Lights Will Guide You Home
by bluesockss
Summary: Allie Cotton is happy at Hogwarts, she does well in lessons and gets on with her best mate Louis Weasley util her life is turned upside down and she has to move to France and attend Beauxbatons and she stands in the way of a cult who want Voldemort back.
1. PART ONE

PART ONE

'Excuse me. Miss Cotton. I do not believe that those shoes are a part of the regulation school uniform.'

Allie looked down at her bright turquoise converse. 'Oh.' she said trying to sound as innocent as possible. 'Well they should be. Look how cool they are.' she wobbled on one leg holding up her foot for the teacher to inspect.

Professor O'Cedar turned his pointed face away. 'I don't care how "cool" they are. They aren't school uniform. Take them off.'

'Okie dokie.' Allie put on her cheeriest voice just to annoy him as she untied her shoes and swung them over her shoulder by their laces, skipping away in her odd socks back to the castle.

'Allie!' called a voice as she pattered down the corridor. She turned around, it was her best friend.

'Oh hey Louis.' she smiled.

'Where are your shoes?' he questioned as he approached her.

'Professor O'Stupid made me take them off.' she sat down cross legged in the middle of the corridor and put them on again.

'Ugh.' smirked Louis. 'Come on.' he grabbed her by the shoulder of her cloak and stood her up. 'Were going to be late for the banquet.'

'Alright, alright.' Allie shook free of his grip and they weaved their way through first and second years to the great hall.

Allie Cotton was an odd sort of girl. She had dark blue eyes and long brown hair which she wore her grown out fringe in two plaits pinned back out of her eyes. She loved to pull practical jokes on people and always had that mischievous glint in her eye. Allie was the least girliest girl ever and she did what she wanted when she wanted. That included always having some new brightly colored article of clothing or blaming the games-keepers dog for the lack of homework she handed in. But most importantly Allie was a witch. She was in her fourth year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry and in Gryffindor. Daring nerve and chivalry set gryffindors apart. She wasn't the most sociable girl, everyone loved her but she only had one best friend. And that was Louis Weasley.

Now Allie and Louis were as different as chalk and cheese. For a start Louis was a Ravenclaw. Everyone wondered why they were best friends and I guess it's just that some people seem to get on. Louis had light blonde hair sitting perfectly on top of his head. He had bright blue eyes framed by long eyelashes that he was always flicking his fringe out of. He had rosy cheeks and a slight tan. In other words he was gorgeous and basically all of the girls fancied him. He was clever like a Ravenclaw is and funny. He was also kind to everyone and was generally a really sweet, charming guy. Not surprising seeing as though he was part veela. He had two older sisters, Dominique who was in Slytherin in her fifth year and Victorie who had left Hogwarts a few years ago. She had been in Ravenclaw as well, in the same class as Allie's twin brothers Leon and Timothy.

'Louis...' said Allie as they entered the great hall which ceiling was scattered with shining stars in the inky sky.

'Yes?'

'Your good at transfiguration aren't you?'

'Yeah. I guess so.' he sighed and turned to look at her. 'You're not gonna ask me to do some kind of essay for you.'

'Pshh.' smirked Allie. 'As if I would do that!'

'Go sit down you nutcase.' he laughed pushing her towards the Gryffindor table as he turned and walked to the Ravenclaw's.

Allie went and took a seat on the long wooden benches and began to help herself to some of the amazing food. A boy from the year above, with dark brown curly hair and a cheeky face came and sat next to her, filling his plate with food as well.

'Hi Allie.' he said. 'How are you?'

'Im good thanks. And how is yourself?'

'Like a cool bean.' he smirked. 'You up for quidditch tomorrow so we can kick some hufflepuff butts?'

'Of course.' she laughed.

A girl with a yellow and black tie scoffed as she walked past, overhearing their conversation. 'You wish Potter!'

The boy Allie was sitting next to turned around to say something but she was already gone.

'To be fair Hufflepuff aren't hard to beat, James.' Allie told him.

'Yeah. I know.' he said. 'Hey Allie I was wondering...' He was about to say something else when he was interrupted by the sound of clinking glass and every head in the hall turned to the teachers table.

'Good evening children. I do hope you are enjoying this fine October night.' came the voice of Hazel Brent, Hogwarts current head mistress. 'We have a lot lined up for this term. Our first quidditch match is Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff, then winner verses Ravenclaw.'

There was a cry of cheers from the Ravenclaw table.

'Also, come December, we will have a Yule ball!'

The whole school erupted into exited applause.

'Yes, yes, settle down.' Professor Brent carried on talking about OWLs and NEWTs so automatically most of the students switched off.

After everyone could barely move because of the amount they'd eaten, they were all dismissed for a few hours before there curfew when they had to return to their common rooms.

Allie and Louis were wandering around the castle when Scorpius Malfoy, a Slytherin in there year, came rushing up to them.

'Hey Louis. And...' he paused for a moment. 'Allie? Right?' Allie nodded as he carried on talking to Louis. 'Is your sister single? I mean... Has she got a date to the Yule ball?'

'Um. No... I don't think so.' replied Louis.

'Cool. Thanks.' said Scorpius as he ran off smiling.

'I think he's gonna ask Dom to the ball.'

'You think?' smirked Allie. 'God for a Ravenclaw you really are thick sometimes!'

'Do you want that transfiguration essay done?' he joked.

'Okay okay.' she sighed. 'What should we do? We have two hours to kill.'

'Ah Allie. Never kill time. Hold onto it because it will become extinct sooner or later.'

'Since when did you become so inspirational?'

'Oh. I inspire you now, do I?' he laughed raising an eyebrow.

'Sure... Whatever!' she joked pushing him outside, then following.

Allie heard her name being called out from somewhere and she looked around to see James Potter running at her with a broom outstretched and a quaffle under his arm.

'Allie! C'mon were doing a quidditch practice.' he yelled.

'Okay one second!' she called back. 'See you Louis.'

'See you.' he waved as he was already turning away to go back inside the castle.

'Wassup James?' she smiled as she walked over to him and took the broom.

'We want the lions to be unbeatable.' he replied.

'Roar!' said Allie.

'Exactly.'

Allie played the keeper and James was seeker. There was also Milly Chang-Smith, Lorcan Scammander, Sonny Gold, Hugo Weasley and his sister Rose on the team. They already were unstoppable.

After an epic practice session the seven of them made their way back to the Gryffindor tower every single one of them completely drained of energy.

Allie walked up to her dorm with Milly who she shared with. And then collapsed on her bed and fell into a deep sleep. The days ticked on by like the second hand on a clock. Before anybody knew it, it was Halloween was here. Louis was right, time was not to be killed because it ran past quickly.

The whole school was assembled in the great hall and everyone was gawping at the feast before there eyes. Allie was seated between Milly and Hugo, opposite James as they discussed their tactics for the Hufflepuff match the next day.

'My dad told me about a troll that was loose in the castle one Halloween.' James said randomly.

'Really?' asked Milly.

'Yeah. There was.' said Hugo. 'My parents said something about it too. Some guy called squirrel or something let it in so that he could try and get the philosophers stone.'

'Thats so cool!' beamed Allie. 'I wish my parents had interesting stories.'

'Your parents came here, Allie?' asked James, slightly surprised.

'My dad did. He was a Gryffindor too and my mum is a muggle.'

'You should ask your dad about any adventures he had at Hogwarts.'

'I would if I could,' explained Allie. 'but he's dead.' An unwelcome silence swept over them and they shifted awkwardly, nobody knew what to say.

'Sorry.' said James. 'I had no idea.'

'No worries.' she smiled at him to show she was fine with it. 'I was only six, I don't really remember him. I'm sorry I kinda lowered the tone or whatever.'

'Yeah...' James tried to change subject. 'Well chin up, were going to absolutely thrash Hufflepuff tomorrow. I know we can do it.'

James was right. He managed to catch the snitch in just under two hours making Gryffindor win by 110-20. Even so, it was still a pretty intense game and Hugo, who was a beater, got sent to the hospital wing after taking a bludger to the face three-quarters of the way into the match.

'Go, Go, Gryffindor! I am a lion so hear me roar!' Came the chants of everybody who was wearing a scarlet and gold striped tie.

Allie looked up to see Louis running down from the Ravenclaw stalls his blue and silver scarf flying behind him. 'Well played Cotton.' he congratulated her.

'Why thank you.' she laughed doing a little bow.

Louis laughed too. 'I've said it before and I'll say it again. Nutcase.'

'I know.' Allie smirked. 'Come on. I am in the mood for some victory pranks... Let's go find Peeves.'

'Alright. I last saw him painting the banisters of the staircases with never-drying orange paint.'

'Awesome. We could help him with that!'

'This way.' Louis lead her too where Peeves, the schools poltergeist was humming a world war one nursery rhyme whilst bouncing up and down the stairs with a paintbrush and tin of paint.

He paused from his painting when he saw them approaching. 'Weasley! Cotton! Come to join me? These staircases won't paint themselves.' he said in a sing-song voice.

'Why else would we be here?' asked Allie, catching the brushes Peeves threw to them and passing one to Louis.

After they had successfully covered every staircase on the second floor with never-drying paint Louis yawned and stretched out his arms.

'Aww is ickle Lou-Lou's tired.' joked Allie.

'Shut up.' he laughed, flicking some paint at her face.

She wiped it off with the back of her hand. 'I will get you next time Weasley!'

'Hey. I just realized something... You beat Hufflepuff so you have to play us after Christmas!'

'Oh yeah. I am a lion hear me roar. Gryffindor is going to beat Ravenclaw!'

'In your dreams.' laughed Louis.

'Dreams can come true Louis. They can.' she smirked, skipping away up the stairs to give the fat lady the password and enter the Gryffindor common room.

There was only one person there when she clambered through the portrait hole. It was James, he was sitting in front of the fire staring into it.

'Hey James. Are you okay?' asked Allie.

James looked up, shocked to see her and put on a smile. 'Huh? Oh yeah... I'm fine.'

'Are you sure..? You seem a bit down.'

He stood up and brushed himself off. 'I'm up now.'

'Oh ha ha.' smiled Allie. 'But seriously... You'd say if something was up, wouldn't you?'

'Yes Allie. I would.' he reassured her. 'But what reason would I have to be sad? We just won the match.'

'We did! You played great, there seeker was so close to the snitch.'

'You weren't so bad yourself. We have to play Ravenclaw next... They have players who might actually be some kind of competition.'

'I want to win for the sole purpose of rubbing it in Louis' face.'

James chuckled at that. 'Why have you got paint all over your hands?'

'Oh that.' she looked down at her orange hands. 'I was helping Peeves redecorate.'

'Which floor should I steer clear of then?' he smirked.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Allie did her innocent voice again. 'And it's the second floor. Anyway, goodnight.'

She was about to climb the stairs to the girls dorm when James called her name and she turned around. 'What is it?'

'Um...' James looked at the ground and then back at her. 'Allie, have you... got a date for the Yule Ball yet?'

'No...' she replied, taking a step down.

'Oh.' said James, going oddly shy. 'I know it's a bit early but maybe... I was wondering if... I mean... Do you want to go with... Me?'

'Um...' said Allie. Standing there in shock. She hadn't even thought about the Yule ball yet but now she did she couldn't think of any reason why she shouldn't go with James. He was extremely good looking, they got on really well already and he was a cool, funny and charming guy. 'Sure. Of course I will James.' she smiled.

'Cool.' James smiled back, his usual confidence rushing back to him. 'Yeah. That's great.' he beamed.

'Yeah.' Allie grinned. 'Well... Goodnight... I guess.' she turned and went to walk upstairs again.

'Sleep tight.' James said and Allie smiled to herself as she went upstairs and climbed into bed.

On this particular mid-November Saturday, a few weeks later, Allie was wearing a bright yellow headband as she ran down to the stairs and into the Great Hall. She was rushing past when James held out an arm to catch her and spin her around.

'Good morning.' he smiled.

'Morning James. How are you this fine day?'

'Im super. And I do hope you are well.'

'Indeed I am.' laughed Allie.

'Thats good.' smiled James. 'What should we do today?'

'I don't mind. Just give me a sec... I need to go to the owlery.'

'Ok. Well I have a detention with O'Cedar so I will catch up with you later, yeah?' he kissed her on the cheek and quickly walked out of the great hall.

Allie walked straight past the Gryffindor table and tapped Louis on the shoulder. 'Do you want me to get your stuff from the owlery?'

He looked at her and stood up. 'Nah. I need to come anyway, let's go.'

They were walking down the corridor when professor O'Cedar stepped out in front of them.

'I know it was you two that did it. And that bloody poltergeist!'

'Im confused.' said Allie. 'What did we do?'

'You, young lady and your friend here, know perfectly well what you did. You painted the staircases again, even after last time!'

'Actually sir.' said Louis. 'That wasn't us...'

'Ha ha. Like I would believe you Mr Weasley.' laughed Professor O'Cedar sarcastically.

'You have no proof.' retorted Louis.

'I don't need proof. I just know it was you two.'

'Well until you find some evidence to back up your case Professor, we must be on our way.' he said and they walked past with no blame on their shoulders.

As they reached the owlery Allie made a clicking sound and her completely black owl that had large brown eyes came flying through an open window and perched himself on her outstretched arm.

'Hey Shadow.' Allie ran her free hand down the feathers of her owl. 'Have you got any letters for me?'

Shadow made a small hooting sound, flapped his wings and flew off returning a moment later with a few letters. He dropped them into her hands just as another brown owl glided into the room giving Louis his letters.

Allie had one from her mother, one from her brothers and another one from her three year old cousin Diego, who was the only other magical one in the extended family still alive. His mother was Allie's dad's sister but she had died during child birth and Diego's dad was murdered a few months before he was born by a killing curse. Since then Diego had been living with them and was basically Allie's little brother.

She sank down against a wall so that she could read them carefully. The first one she opened was from Diego. It was a moving crayon drawing of Allie, Leon, Timmy and Diego all holding hands walking along and a castle in the background with the word HUGWERTZ scribbled on it except from the G and the Z were backwards. He had obviously drawn it himself and she hugged it tight to her chest and then put it in her pocket so she could have it with her forever.

The next one was from the twins. They were telling her not to get into trouble (hypocrites) and do well in lessons because she had her OWLs next year. They also said that they would give her quidditch tips but had heard that it was Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw and they wanted Ravenclaw to win. At the end Leon had scribbled about something he needed to tell her but it would have to wait until Christmas.

The final letter was written in Allie's mothers elegant handwriting:

Dear My Allie,

I hope you are doing well and school and haven't got into that much trouble and are doing well in classes. Did you get Deigo's drawing? He misses you a lot whilst you're at Hogwarts. I have something very important I need to tell you but I will not send it via a bird so I will tell you in person when you come home for the christmas holidays.

~Mum~

Allie folded up her letters and put them in her pocket too and then gave Shadow a nut and he flew away. She looked across at Louis who had two letters, one from his sister Victorie and another from his mum.

Louis handed her one of the letters whilst he opened the other. 'Here hold this.'

Allie looked at the letter he had just given her. None of the words made any sense. 'How can you understand what's on this letter Louis?'

'Its from my mum. It's in French.' he explained.

'Oh. I didn't know that you understood French.'

'Well, my mum is from France. We all can speak it. Me, mum, Dom and Vic. Not dad though, he never got the hang of it.'

'That's so cool!' Allie exclaimed.

'Meh.' said Louis as he carried on reading Vic's letter. Allie took out Diego's drawing and smiled, she would want to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas if it wasn't for Diego.

December came around it was less than a week until the Yule ball and everybody was stressing out about it. Everybody except Louis and Allie who were sitting against a tree looking out on the black lake.

'What do you think the giant squid eats?' asked Louis.

'You mean that old things still there? I thought Hagrid killed it years ago.' said Allie.

'Allie, when would Hagrid ever harm a beetle, let alone kill some giant monster that he wants as a pet.'

'Good point.' Allie nodded. 'I think it eats merpeople.'

'Seriously?' laughed Louis. 'Whats wrong with fish?'

'Well fish everyday wouldn't be a very exciting meal.' she said standing up and walking to the edge of the lake.

'Only you.' he smirked, standing up too. 'Only you would come up with something like that.' he walked up and stood a little way behind her. 'Maybe it likes to eat normal people too!' he laughed pushing her in.

There was a splash as Allie fell into the water but she re-surfaced in a few seconds, pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. 'Damn you Louis Weasley!' she laughed. 'By Merlin's name I'll get you back.' she splashed a load of water over him.

'Ha ha!' he chuckled and then jumped in too, bobbing up next to her.

'I honestly do hate you.' joked Allie, splashing his face with water again.

'No you don't.' said Louis, treading water. 'You can never hate me.'

'And why is that?' she asked.

'Just because...'

'Just because? That's a pathetic reason.' she laughed, splashing him once more then diving underwater and then pulling herself up on the edge of the lake.

'You're a pathetic reason.' He replied smiling.

'Oooh, good comeback.' Allie smirked as Louis climbed out and sat next to her on the edge of the lake. 'Now I'm soaking thanks to you!' she began emptying her pockets taking out her wand, extendable ears and... 'Oh no!' she said in shock. She had had Diego's drawing in her pocket when Louis had pushed her in the lake. Now it was just a soggy, smudged bit of paper.

'What' the matter?' asked Louis.

'The drawing... that Diego did for me. It's all ruined now.' She held it up carefully.

'Merlin's beard! Oh my god Allie, I'm so sorry. This is my fault!' he looked so guilty.

'No..no... It's alright.' Allie tried to smile as she smoothed it out. 'You can still kind of see it.'

'Here, let me fix it.' Said Louis, taking it off of her gently and pulling out his wand. He murmured a spell as he waved his wand over the paper and slowly the water began to evaporate and the smudged crayon images began to move back into place.

'Thank you so much Louis.' smiled Allie as she took the drawing off him.

'No problem. It was kinda my fault anyway.' he smiled and flicked his wet fringe out of his eyes.

'Stop flicking your hair before I cut it off!' laughed Allie.

'But it's soaking.' he shook droplets of water from his head showing them all over Allie, then he took off his shirt and rubbed his hair with it. 'Its dry now.'

'And I'm not.' Allie smirked. 'Hey where'd that come from?' she asked, poking his six pack.

He looked down at his stomach, slightly confused then he looked up smiling, with a glint in his blue eyes. 'Oh that...'

'Ha ha ha. How many times have you been asked to the ball yet?' Allie joked.

'Well...' Louis began counting on his fingers. 'Only eleven this week...'

'Only? Oh Louis, have you met yourself?' she laughed. 'And you're going with...?'

'I don't know.' He said. 'Not one of the second years that asked me.'

'Well that's useful. Anyway, we need to get dried off, and back to potions.' She replied.

Louis re-drew his wand and pointed it at himself. 'Aqua licencia.' All the water siphoned itself off of him, then he ruffled his hair and he put his shirt back on. Allie did the same and the pair who were now dry wandered back into the castle and stood outside the dungeons waiting for Professor Glipped to arrive.

It was a Friday so after lessons were over it meant it was time for everybody above their third year to take a trip to Hogsmeade. Louis, James, Allie, Milly and Hugo were walking around the shops together, the blanket of snow beneath their feet crunching as they trod on it. The sun was shining extremely brightly through the naked trees and it reflected off of the snow making it shimmer. Hogsmeade was a truly beautiful place in the winter.

'Hey Allie, have you even got a dress yet?' asked Milly.

'Um...No. I haven't actually. I don't really like to wear dresses.' replied Allie.

'But you have to wear one! It's a formal dance!'

Allie let out a sigh. 'Fine.' And Milly grabbed her by the arm dragging her into a shop.

It was a pretty little shop, painted white with red swirls bordering the top of the walls and there were lots of moving paintings of models and mannequins with magnificent dresses on. A young witch, in her early twenties with dark skin and long black hair, red lips and red nails bounded up to them smiling, wearing a little red and white polka-dot dress.

'Hello girls. Getting prepared for the ball are we? Gosh, I remember my first Yule Ball.' She said. 'Anyway, how can I help you?

'Hi. My friend Allie here needs a dress for the ball because she hasn't got one yet.' Milly explained.

'Ah yes. Now what sort of thing are we looking for?' asked the assistant. 'A long pink dress? Or something a bit more sexy?' she laughed at the look on Allie's face and tapped her arm lightly. 'Don't worry darling. We'll find you something.'

It took almost an hour of trying on different dresses and hearing Milly and the assistant, whose name was Chloe's, opinions on all fifteen dresses before they found one that Allie would actually agree to wear.

It was the day of the ball and everyone was getting prepared by setting up decorations, or helping with food, or just spending forever getting changed; not a single person wasn't busy. The long house tables had been moved out of the great hall and it was replaced with ten circular tables draped with slivery, netted cloths and laid with piles of mouth-watering food courtesy of the house elves. The enchanted ceiling was covered with stars and there hung more silvery veils from the wooden ceiling bars. Also, there was a large Christmas tree decorated all silver and blue by Hagrid at the very end of the hall with four ice sculptures elegantly carved next to it. On one side was a lion and a snake, the other a badger and an eagle to represent the four houses of Hogwarts. As the clock turned to eight o'clock more and more people began to arrive and the atmosphere was nothing less than incredible.

Most people were there when Allie arrived at half past. She was wearing a simple little white dress that went to just above her knees with a white ribbon around the waist making the bottom skirt bit flow elegantly behind her. Around the collar of the dress there were seven small rubies sewn and there was also a red trim around the bottom of the dress. She had her hair down so it stopped just above her waist and it was all wavy with half of her hair pinned up with a ruby encrusted clip. She looked stunning as she walked down the steps to the great hall. Treading carefully with her red converse that she was wearing, the little silver anklet her dad had given her before he died fastened around her left foot, just visible over the top of her converse.

James was standing there in his dress robes with his usual curly hair scruffy but he still looked handsome. His jaw dropped when he saw Allie walking down the stairs and it took a few moments for him to actually move and go over to hold out his arm.

'Good evening beautiful.' He winked at her as she took his arm and they walked forward, engulfed by the crowd.

'Hello Prince Charming.' She giggled and an amazing piano song started to play.

'May I have this dance?' he asked still grinning.

'Certainly.' And they began spinning around slowly to the song looking at nothing but each other.

The song came to an end and they stopped spinning. 'Im so dizzy right now.' said James.

'My head feels like it's still spinning.' Allie smiled, shaking her head slightly.

James slid his hands to her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck as the next song started.

'We should spin the other way to even out the dizziness.' he said and Allie agreed so they span the opposite way to which they had been spinning before.

Other couples at the dance included Scorpius Malfoy and Louis' sister Dominique, Hugo Weasley and a brown haired Ravenclaw girl and a couple Allie did not expect; Louis and Milly Chang-Smith.

That song came to an end as well and she looked into James' mischievous brown eyes. 'Im still really dizzy.'

James didn't say anything he just smiled looking at her. Allie shut her eyes still holding onto him so she didn't collapse from dizziness when he kissed her. She smiled beneath his lips and opened her eyes just as they pulled apart.

'And now I'm even dizzier.' she said, the smile still wide on her face.

'Good.' James' eyes were dancing. 'So am I.'

The next couple of days involved packing up everything and getting most of the students ready to go home for Christmas. Allie was rushing around her dorm shoving clothes and random bits of parchment into her trunk. It was just under an hour before she had to be at hogsmeade station so she was doing her usual last minute packing. She sat on it to make sure that it shut and then tumbled downstairs with it.

'Here. Let me help you with that.' said James, taking it off of her carrying it as well as his own trunk.

'No James it's fine.' Allie took it back as James' little red-haired sister Lily, in her second year, came running down with her trunk.

'James! Help me with this.' she said, pushing her trunk towards him.

'Okay Lily.' he sighed, picking it up. 'Come on hurry up. Let's go find Albus.'

'Alright, is he at the Slytherin common room?' asked Lily, following her big brother out of the portrait hole.

'No. He's on mars.' James said sarcastically. 'Sorry Allie, I'll see you on the train.' he explained as he tried to carry both trunks.

'Its alright.' Allie told him. 'See you James, see you Lily.'

'Bye Allie.' said Lily, closing the portrait hole behind her.

Allie felt around in her pockets and realized that she had left her wand upstairs, she quickly ran into her dormitory and got it and then came back to the common room where she could hear someone talking to the fat lady outside. She picked up her trunk and owl and opened to portrait hole and climbed through it to see Louis and the fat lady deep in conversation.

'Oh hey Allie. You ready? Because we are already late.' Louis didn't give her time to answer, he took her arm and ran down stairs pulling her behind him to where the thestral drawn carriages were waiting.

When they finally got to hogsmeade station and boarded the train the real difficulty was finding an empty compartment. They soon discovered that they weren't going to find an empty one so they settled with sharing a compartment with Albus, Lily, James, Dom and Scorpius.

Lily was sitting there fussing over her owl and Albus looked like he could fall asleep at any minute. Dom already was asleep, or at least lying with her eyes closed, with her head in Scorp's lap and James was sitting as if he had been waiting and had saved seats for them. Allie went and sat down next to him and he put his arm over her shoulder.

'Sorry about leaving you earlier but someone...' he shot a look at Lily who just smiled innocently. 'was rushing me.'

'Its alright I was running late anyway.' said Allie.

'Hey Louis.' said Scorpius after he had made sure that Dominique was definatley asleep. 'I think your sister is really cool.'

'Thats nice.' Louis said. 'As long as you take care of her.'

'I will, I promise. That's why I was going to ask you...' he said shifting carefully and pulling a small box out of his pocket. 'Do you think she'd like this for Christmas?'

He opened the box to reveal a small silver bracelet with three charms on it. Two heart shaped emeralds and a little silver charm in the shape of a wolf, beautifully etched with a tiny emerald eye.

'Woah.' said Allie, staring at it.

'I think she'd love it!' exclaimed Louis. 'Where on earth did you get enough money to pay for this?'

'From my dad. We're not all like you Weasleys.' he joked. It was a good job that they were friends or else he might have found that offensive.

After a few hours the sky outside had turned pink and dusky. The sun, an orange glow behind the hill as the train eventually pulled up at platform 9 and 3/4 at kings cross station.

Before they got off the train they said their goodbyes to one and other.

'Have a good Christmas. Write to me, yeah?' Louis said as they did there special handshake and he followed Dom off of the train.

'Yeah I will. And a happy new year Lou!' Allie called after him and he walked away.

'You have to write to me too.' James told her.

'I promise that I will and I always keep my promises.' Allie smiled and hugged him receiving a kiss on her forehead then he pushed her forward.

'Go on. Find your family, I need to sort out these two.' he gestured to Albus and Lily.

Allie stepped down onto the platform carrying her trunk with two hands. It was only Timmy and Diego that came to collect her. Her mum and Leon must be at home.

Timmy came over to her and took her trunk. 'Merlins beard! What are you like?' he laughed.

'I don't know. What am I like?' smirked Allie.

A small dark haired boy came running forward and threw himself at her, arms outstretched. 'ALLIEEEE!'

'Hey Diego!' she grinned, catching him and lifting him above her head then bringing him down and holding him. 'How are you buddy?'

'I am awesome.' Diego replied in his little voice.

'You most certainly are.' laughed Allie, putting him down on the platform. 'Come on, let's get Timmy and go home.'

'Okay!' said Diego and he ran over to Timmy.

'Guess what Allie.' Timmy had a smirk on his face.

'What?' asked Allie.

'I passed my muggle driving test so now I have a car!' he was bursting with excitement.

'Congratulations man!' she replied. 'Thats so cool! Do you know what mum needed to talk to me about?'

'Yeah.' Timmy didn't look at her. 'But let's wait until we get home.'

The place where Allie grew up was nothing special just a semi-detached brick house with flowers and plants growing up the wall. The front door was painted brown with the gold number 7 on it and in the driveway there was Allie's mum's car and Timmy's car. Anybody that walked past wouldn't guess that it was the home to four wizards.

'Shes home!' Timmy called as he opened the front door, letting them in.

'Hey Albatross.' A boy who looked identical to Timmy came up to her smiling, it was Leon. He had given her the nickname Albatross after he had first seen her fly a broom. 'How is Hogwarts?'

'Its cool as ever.' Allie said, leaving her trunk by the door and going into the kitchen with her two brothers and Diego. Her mother was pottering around making dinner, she looked up and stopped cooking.

'Allie, honey!' she went over and gave her a massive hug. 'Im so glad your home.'

'Im glad to be home too mum.' said Allie, returning the hug.

A brown owl came and tapped it's beak on the window, it was Louis' owl. Allie opened the window and took the letter off of it's leg, opening it.

To Allie,

Hope you arrived home safely. Tell Timmy I said congrats on passing his muggle test or whatever it was. Anyway, Victorie and Dominique have both got people coming so I wanted to ask if you and your family would like to come for Christmas dinner at Shell Cottage. Send a reply back with my owl.

-Louis

'Hey mum. We've been invited to Christmas Dinner at Louis'. Can we go please?' She begged.

'Well... If it's alright with Bill and Fleur.' Allie's mother replied.

'Yeah it is. Thanks mum!' Allie ran upstairs to her room, opened the door and kicked some clothes out of the way, wiped some things off her desk and onto the floor then picked up a quill, dipped it in ink and scribbled on the back of Louis' letter:

Louis,

I'll tell Tim you said that. And thanks for the offer, we would love to come for Christmas. I can't wait.

-A

Then she rushed back down the stairs, tied the reply to the owl's foot and sent it off flying into the distance.

The mood in the Cotton household somewhat became gloomier as it reached the 23rd of December. Allie was walking barefoot along the landing when she heard sobs coming from her mother's room. She knew better than to walk in on her mother and she went back into her own room and sank down against the back of the closed door. She never took her anklet off but today she unclipped it and squeezed it tightly in her hand, kissing it and shutting her eyes. There was a light knock on the door and Allie stood up and opened it, letting Leon in, then they both went and sat on her bed.

'It hurts bad doesn't it?' Leon asked letting out a sigh.

'More than anything.' Allie's voice cracked and she squeezed the anklet tighter in her hand.

'I can't believe that it's been nine years already. Seems like only yesterday he was here with us, teaching us how to fly a broom and adjusting our ties before we got on the Hogwarts express and...' Leon cut off, looking down into his lap.

'Leon...' Allie said quietly. 'Leon I'm scared.'

'What are you scared of?'

'I was only young when it happened. I don't remember much of him... I'm scared I'll forget more things too.' she whispered.

At that moment Timmy and Diego came in. Timmy sat on the other side of Allie and Diego on her lap, snuggling into her chest.

'Don't worry Albatross.' Said Leon as he and Timmy both put their arms around her. 'We'll make sure you'll remember every detail, won't we Tim?'

'Yes we will.' Timmy agreed. 'Everything. Like how he used to make sparks fly out of his wand so we could chase them. Or how he could use a simple spell to heal a grazed knee. He'd use to go through the packets of Bertie botts and make sure that we never got a bad one. And then he'd used to sing to you, Allie, to send you to sleep at night.'

'I remember.' Said Allie.

'Close your eyes my little witch and shut out the world.

I'll protect you from the bad, my darling little girl.

Close your eyes my little witch, do you know.

The greatest magic there is, is to watch you grow.' Timmy began.

Leon then joined in. 'In the morning when you wake, you won't have to worry.

Everything to you, is oh so funny.

Promise me that, you won't ever grow up.

And forget that you have daddy's love.'

Allie felt the warm tear roll down her face as she began to sing the last verse with them.

'Close your eyes my little witch and shut out the world.

I'll protect you from the bad, my darling little girl.

Close your eyes my little witch, do you know.

The greatest magic there is, is to watch you grow.

Promise me that even when you grow up,

You won't forget you have daddy's love.'

She opened her palm and looked at the silver anklet, smiling weakly. 'I haven't forgotten Dad.'

The four of them sat there hugging in silence for a few moments. Allie hadn't heard that song for almost a decade but she still remembered every line. She could hear her father's voice gently singing it to her in her head and she got goose-bumps.

'Allie…' Diego said quietly. 'I don't remember him.'

This brought a smile to her face and another tear to her eye. 'Of course you don't Diego. You never met him. He died before you were born.'

'Oh…' he said. 'I'm sure he was awesome though.'

'He was Diego.' Said Leon. 'He most certainly was awesome.'

Christmas day arrived and after the grand present opening it was time to set off for dinner at the Weasley's.

'Are we going to drive?' asked Allie's mother. 'I don't know the way.'

'No mum.' laughed Timmy. 'Me and Leon will apparate us all there.'

'Oh god.' she replied. 'Is that the teleporting thing you two do?' Sometimes it got a bit annoying having a muggle for a mother but you can't choose your family.

'You take Diego, Allie. And apparate with me. Timmy, you take mum and make sure she doesn't throw up this time.' instructed Leon.

They all stood holding hands in the hallway of their home and there was a loud crack. They vanished. Reappearing moments later in front of a pretty little cottage on a cliff overlooking the sea. The house was covered in shells and there were flowers all over the garden and the all was silent apart from the gentle woosh of the ocean ebbing and flowing.

An elegant lady with long blonde hair, wearing a white blouse and blue skirt opened the front door carrying a watering can, she turned and saw them, smiling and waving.

'Ah you are 'ere!' she said, kissing all of them on each cheek. 'You eez a bit eerly but it eez oh kay. Come in, please.' she held out an arm guiding them inside of the cottage.

Allie had been here many times before but it looked even more amazing with fairy lights, tinsel and the huge decorative Christmas tree there. The dining room table had been stretched to fit at least 20 people and everything looked spectacular.

Louis came rushing down the stairs wearing a black shirt and trousers with his hair combed. 'Your here!' he said happily.

'Hi Louis!' Allie went over to him. 'Hows your holiday been so far?'

'Its been amazing. I got a new broom. A 1500 striker. Gryffindor better watch out.' he joked.

'Shut up! We're gonna kick your butt.' retorted Allie.

'If you say so.' he shrugged his shoulders. 'Did you get anything cool?'

'Yeah I got an iPod.'

'A what?' Louis looked confused.

'Its a muggle device that plays music.' Allie explained getting it out of her pocket.

She began to play music and Louis jumped back, shocked, then took a step forward and peered at it closely. He took the small thing and turned it over in his hands.

'Woah cool.' he smiled. 'Muggles don't need magic to make awesome things.' he tapped the screen and it began to play different songs, the look on his face was like a small child and a pop-up book. He obviously found it very entertaining.

Dinner was absolutely amazing. Teddy Lupin showed up and so did Scorpius Malfoy with his parents. You would think that there would be a lot of conversation at dinner with the amount of people there but everybody was too engrossed in there meal to do much talking. Allie looked up from cutting her bit of turkey, her mother was looking suspiciously at a moving portrait, Scorp and Dom were attempting to eat whilst holding each other's hands, and Vic and Teddy were feeding each other. Bill Weasley, a tall red-haired man with nasty scars all down his face kept on showing dog-like characteristics but that was only because he was once bitten by a werewolf and Leon and Timmy were attempting to control Diego who was building a house out of mashed potato. She looked up at Louis who was already looking at her, he quickly turned his gaze away and Victorie said something to him in French which made him tell her to shut up.

After dinner it was late and they decided it would be best to go home before Diego passed out due to exhaustion.

'You must come again. Eet was loovley to have you weeth us.' Fleur said, kissing each of their cheeks.

'Yes, we all had a great day.' Bill shook everybody's hands.

'Thank you very much for inviting us Mr and Mrs Weasley.' Allie smiled.

'Eet was no problem darling. Eet was my pleesure.'

'I'm going to say buy to Louis. There's something I need to give him.' She walked off and upstairs to go and find him when she heard arguing coming from his room. He was having a row with Victorie but Allie couldn't understand what they were talking in fluent French. The door opened and she hid against the wall, Vic came walking past shaking her head and didn't notice Allie.

Once Vic had gone into her own room Allie turned and stepped into Louis'. His room was very simple and modern with Ravenclaw banners hung on the white walls and moving posters of the Falmouth Falcons quidditch team as well as a corkboard with animated photos pinned to it. There were some of quidditch matches he'd been to, childhood photos of him and his sisters, a Weasley family photo and a few photos of him and his friends which a lot of the time was just him and Allie. Also, he had a desk with his owl sitting on and some quills and ink. His school trunk remained unpacked at the bottom of his bed, where he was sitting. His owl hooted and he looked up and saw Allie, putting on a weak smile.

'Hey.' He said. 'Are you leaving already?'

'Yeah, sorry. But we need to get Diego home.'

'Ah well. Have you had a good day?' he asked.

'Yeah.' Allie replied. 'It's been awesome.'

Louis smiled. 'That's good.'

'Here…' Allie held out a box wrapped in metallic silver paper. 'I got you a little something.'

'Oh you didn't have to! But that reminds me...' he stood up and rummaged around in his wardrobe then got out a little black velvet box. 'I got you something too.'

'Aww, thanks Lou.' She smiled, giving him a hug.

He seemed a little taken aback at first but then he hugged her too. 'Thank you. I guess I'll see you again when we get back to Hogwarts.'

'Yeah I guess so. I'll see ya.'

It was the day before they had to go back to Hogwarts and Allie was packing all of her stuff back into her trunk. Broomstick? Check. Wand? Check. Robes? Check. Homework…? Ah well. She couldn't pack everything. She had just locked her trunk when Leon came in, with a serious look on his face for once.

'What's up Leon?'

Leon stood in the doorway, considering whether to come in or not. 'In the letter I wrote to you. I said I needed to talk to you about something.'

'Yes…' Allie said. 'Is everything okay.'

'Well…' he began. 'Maybe I'm not the one you need to ask that. Come with me, I know mum has been trying to avoid bringing it up with you but you're going back tomorrow so it's now or never.'

'Leon? What's going on?' she asked.

'Come on, we'll go speak to her.' Leon lead her down to the living room where her mother was sitting on the sofa with her head cupped in her hands, staring at the television which was switched off.

Allie went over and sat opposite her. 'Mum? You said you needed to talk to me about something very important but you wouldn't send it by owl.'

'Yes. You see the thing is…' Allie's mother began.

'What is it?'

'Well honey I know how much you like it at Hogwarts. But things change and I have to get away from here, where he was… where he passed. So we'll be a little further away from it.'

'How far?' asked Allie and when there was no reply she asked again. 'How far away, mum?'

'You've got about two months left at Hogwarts.' Said her mother. 'I brought us a flat in Cannes, the south of France.'

Allie almost choked. 'WHAT!' she yelled.

'Look… calm down…'

'Calm down? How can I bloody well calm down?' Allie folded her arms and said defiantly. 'I'm staying here in England.'

'Don't be ridiculous Allie. Of course your coming with us.'

'And you left it until now to tell me? I cannot believe you. What am I supposed to do? Leave all my friends here? Leave the school I love so much and just give up my powers to move to another country and become a bloody muggle! I'll have to leave Louis and I can't keep in touch with James. Shadow would fall of exhaustion in the middle of the English channel. Plus, I can't even speak French! Did you even think this through? No. Because you never do. I don't want to leave my whole life behind in Britain just because you can't face coming home to the place where Dad was murdered. Well it's not just you it affecting Mum! We miss him too!' Allie's voice was hoarse and breaking.

She looked at her mother who was just sitting there, avoiding eye contact and Allie just stormed off up to her room, slamming the door behind her and sinking down to the floor, raging. After about half an hour of sitting there it occurred to her that she had not opened Louis' present yet. She still had the little velvet box sitting on her desk so she went over and picked it up, opening it carefully.

Inside was a long silver chain with a five-pointed star on it. It was a locket and when she opened it there was a picture of Louis and Allie smiling and laughing in it. It was the same picture Louis had on his corkboard. Allie smiled at it and turned it over and on the back, engraved in elegant letters was the words: meilleurs amis.

As Allie, Louis and Dominique stepped off the train onto the hogsmeade station platform the wind was bitingly cold. Hitting their faces like a thousand tiny needles, they pushed through it, there hair blowing in their eyes and after an equally cold thestral journey they were glad to be inside the warmth of the castle.

'Brrr. It's freezing.' shivered Dom, wrapping Scorp's hoodie tighter around her.

'Tell me about it.' said Allie rubbing her hands together to warm them up.

'Hey guys. Did you all have a good Christmas?' asked Albus, his jet black hair even scruffier than usual thanks to the wind.

'Yeah. It was super wasn't it guys?' Dom said enthusiastically and the others agreed. 'How was yours?'

'It was cool. We went to Uncle Rons and him and my dad almost set the kitchen on fire before Aunt Hermione had the sense to ban them from cooking.' he smiled at the memory of it.

'Sounds like it was entertaining then.' laughed Louis.

'Trust me, it was.' said a voice as someone came up and hugged Allie from behind.

'Hello James.' she said.

'Oh. How did you know it was me?' he whined.

'Who else would it be?' she asked.

'Ah well. We will catch up with you lot later.' said Dom as she and Albus walked off to the Slytherin common room in the dungeon.

The next afternoon Allie was sitting alone on a stone bench outside, ignoring the icy cold and thinking about the conversation she had had with her mother. How would she tell all her friends? How would she say goodbye to Hogwarts? How could she forgive her mum?

She watched her breath appear as a white mist in front of her and sat there trying to stop her teeth chattering. James came and sat next to her and immediately took his jumper off and wrapped it around her.

'Merlin's beard Allie your freezing!' he exclaimed. 'Is everything okay?'

She didn't look at him. 'Its been better.'

'Why? What's the matter?' he asked, concern flooding his voice.

'Its... hard to explain...'

'Try me.' he said.

Allie looked down at her hands and sighed. 'James I...' she gulped. 'I... I don't think it's going to work between us.'

'Oh.' he replied sadly. 'But... but what? How? Why? Allie, whatever it is I'm so sorry... I'll...'

'James listen to me.' she turned to face him, looking him in the eyes. 'Its not your fault. It's just easier now, for both of us...'

The look in his eyes was pained and confused, not like his normal cheeky glint. 'I don't understand...'

'I... I'm sorry.' she said, standing up and giving his jumper back to him. 'We can still be friends.'

'Yeah.' he didn't look at her, as she walked away back to the castle a wave of guilt washing over her and a lump rising in her throat.

About an hour later Louis came up to her in the corridor. 'Hey. What's up? I heard you broke up with James.'

'Yeah.' she looked down.

'Why? Last time I saw you were really happy together.'

'Its complicated.' she said. 'Louis... There's something I need to tell you. Just not here.' she looked at all the other passing students.

'Okay sure. Where then?' he asked.

'Meet me at our usual tree by the lake in about five minutes.' she said, walking off quickly in the other direction.

Louis was already there when Allie came back. He was standing with his arms folded, shivering. 'Seriously Allie. Tell me what's wrong.'

'Louis... I dont know how to tell you this and I'm not going to be here much longer... I'm moving... To France.'

'You what...?' his eyes widened with shock.

'You heard me.'

'I know I just can't believe it.' he said, still in shock. 'How long are you here for?'

'About two months... Maybe a bit less.' she sighed. 'But promise me you won't tell anyone!'

'I promise.' he sighed as well. 'This really sucks...'

'I know right.' agreed Allie, crossing her arms to stop heat escaping. 'Im going to miss it here. Everything. The castle, quidditch, the magic and even the lessons. I'll miss pulling pranks and getting detentions and coming down by the lake to mess about. And I'll miss everyone here, all my friends, the teachers and the people I've never spoken to.' she fell silent. 'I'll miss you Louis.'

'I'll miss you too.' he looked down. 'I'll have no friends if you leave.'

'What are you on about? You have loads of friends!' Allie told him.

'No. But that's just because there my family.' he said and Allie realized that he was right. Lots of people loved Louis but the main people they hung around with were all his family, other than Allie he didn't have many friends of his own.

'I'll owl you every day and you can come visit whenever you want even if it's 3 am...' she leaned against the tree.

'Allie.' he said, his voice hushed. 'Promise me that we will always be best friends. No matter what happens in France.'

'Of course we will! Nothing could stop us being best mates.' she wondered what could actually stop them.

'Promise?' he asked.

'I promise.'

That weekend Allie got an owl from her mother.

Dear Allie,

I know you may not be happy about us moving to france but it's going to happen wether you like it or not. You will be pleased to know, however, that you won't have to give up your powers because there is a magic school close to where we are going to live. I have also decided that you must leave Hogwarts next Tuesday because I will hire a French tutor and you need to be able to speak as much of the language as possible before we go there.'

See you on tuesday. -mum

Allie screwed up the letter and threw it at a wall in anger. It was at that moment when James came walking past.

'Allie?'

She turned around, shocked to see James there. 'James.'

'Whats the matter?' he asked.

'Its...nothing. It's nothing.' she said.

'Are you sure? You seem a bit… upset.'

'No. I'm fine. Honestly.' she told him.

'Well, if you say you are then...' he began but Allie interrupted him.

'I am.'

'Oh. Well, I'll see you around.' he said and carried on walking down the corridor.

Allie put her arm on the wall and buried her face in it. Four days. That was all she had left at Hogwarts. Four measly little days. Just because she needed to be tutored to learn how to speak French. Speak French. That was it! She could get Louis to teach her whilst still staying at Hogwarts for the longest time possible. Allie began writing a reply to her mother explaining that Louis would teach her. Then she ran off to tell Louis her plan.

'So you want me to teach you French?' he asked.

'If it's okay with you.' she replied.

'How do you know I speak it as fluently as I said I did?' he raised an eyebrow.

'Because you were talking to Victorie in fluent French on Christmas day.'

'You heard?' he asked, shocked. 'You didn't hear what we were talking about did you?'

'No of course not. How could I? You know I can't understand any of the language that's why I need you to teach me or else I only have until Tuesday left at Hogwarts.'

'Oh yeah. Sure, I'll teach you French Allie. On one condition...' he looked serious.

'Anything.'

'If anything, anything at all that seems slightly out of the ordinary whilst you're in France you will tell me and just stay at your home.' Louis said.

'Okay...' Allie was confused but one look at Louis' face she could tell that he meant what he said.

'Good. So we have a deal?' he held out his hand.

'Deal.' she shook it.

From that moment on, every day at 6 o'clock Allie and Louis would meet by the tree and Louis would attempt to teach her French.

'Salut!' said Louis as she came walking over one day.

'Hey Louis.' she smiled.

'Ça va?' he asked.

'Ça va bien, merci.' she replied.

'Thank Rowena we are finally getting somewhere!' he grinned.

It was about a week before Allie's last day, things had stopped being awkward between her and James, anyway, he was going out with Milly now. This particular February day it was a bit cold but the bright sun was shining across the lake making it all sparkle and Hogwarts looked even more magical than usual. Louis and Allie were sitting with their backs against the tree and by this time Allie knew quite a lot of French and could speak it almost as well as if she had lived in France for a year. But it still wasn't perfect.

'Okay, let's try it again.' sighed Louis saying something I'm French that Allie copied. 'Better.' he said.

'Why is it so complicated?' Allie asked, putting her head in her hands.

'It isn't really.' said Louis. 'Its easy when you get the hang of it.'

'No. Not the language. Actually having to move countries. I want to stay here at Hogwarts.' she looked up at him.

'Oh. I want you to stay too.' his eyes met her gaze, holding for a few moments.

A voice came from the distance. 'Louis just kiss her already you bum!' It was Hugo.

Louis span around to see his cousin running away in fits of laughter. 'HUGO!' he turned back to Allie, blushing. 'Sorry. I'm sorry my cousin is a MASSIVE IDIOT!' he yelled so that Hugo could hear.

'It's alright. He's thirteen and probably thought it was hilarious.' said Allie. 'Imagine if something did happen between us… Louis and Allie… that would be… weird.'

'Yeah.' said Louis looking down. 'Weird.

Eventually the dreaded day arrived and Allie had packed everything she owned into numerous boxes and suitcases ready to go to France. She sighed as she took one last look around her bedroom; the bare walls, the empty wardrobe, the curtains taking down. The carpet on her floor was completely clear and it actually looked tidy for once. She felt a lump rise in her throat, she was saying goodbye to her home that she had lived in for fifteen years. She sat down on her suitcase and thought about her last day at Hogwarts, last week.

It had been a Friday and she didn't go to any lessons because she had spent the whole day packing. It was twenty five past three and she was sitting on a wall, the sun making a feeble attempt to shine through the clouds, but it wasn't cold. She turned and looked up at the castle she had called home with its slightly lopsided stone towers and grand windows showing off the high-ceilinged structure of the building. She closed her eyes remembering every detail. The whomping willow, the black lake, the greenhouses, the dungeons. The great hall, the forbidden forest, the common room and the grounds. She pictured every event that had happened.

She was eleven with her hair in two long pigtails and her black Hogwarts tie done up to the top but slightly tilted, standing surrounded by other first-years in the Great Hall. Professor Brent called out her name and she stumbled forward to the stool and nervously perched herself on it as Professor Brent placed the battered old Sorting Hat on her head so that it slid down, obscuring her vision. After a lot of umming and ahing the hat eventually said: 'Tricky, tricky you could aspire in any house but there is one trait that strikes me as something more. You sure have wit but your courage is what shines, you'd best go sit with GRYFFINDOR!'

The next memory was of her a few days after the sorting ceremony and she was waiting outside for her first Transfiguration lesson. The Gryffindors had Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws and that was how she first met Louis. They became best friends almost instantly and it had remained that way for four years. She was standing there at the back of queue and everybody else was talking to eachother except for a blond-haired Ravenclaw boy, who came over and introduced himself. 'Hi I'm Louis, who are you?'

Sitting back on the wall, she heard the bell ringing to signal the end of lessons and students started pouring out of the doors out into the grounds. Somebody came and sat next to her. It was Louis.

'Hey…' he said.

'Hey.' replied Allie. 'Louis… I'll miss you.'

'I'll miss you too.' He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face in his chest, trying not to cry. She muttered something that Louis didn't understand so he just patted her on the back. 'Come on.' He said. 'Let's go get your stuff from the Gryffindor common room.'

So they went up to the Gryffindor tower and the Fat Lady let Louis in too. Allie went upstairs to the girls dorm, whilst Louis waited at the bottom. He could get past the Fat Lady but not the charmed stairs. Allie picked up her trunk and looked round her dormitory one last time, sighing as she closed the door. She came down and let Louis take her trunk off of her, she was too depressed to hold it herself and then she nodded and took one last look around the Gryffindor common room, tears stinging her eyes as she followed Louis out into the grounds where Leon was waiting.

'I will see you again Allie. I promise.' he said sincerely, giving her trunk back.

'Of course you will. You can come visit and...' she trailed off looking at his face, his blue eyes said it all.

'I guess I'll see you.' he smiled weakly, as they did their special handshake before he turned and walked back to the castle.

And now she was sitting in her room, just waiting for someone to say it was time to go. It was still hard for her to believe, she gulped down the lump that was rising in her throat. Her heart was beating like rain on a metal roof as she stood up after Timmy called for her, one by one taking the boxes downstairs to the cars.

The journey to St Pancras station felt like it went on forever but they eventually got there. Allie was sitting down against a wall whilst Timmy was arguing with mum and Leon had gone to get coffee.

'Allie...' Diego came waddling over. 'Do you want to play I Spy?'

'Okay then Diego. You start.'

'I spy with my little eye something beginning with suitcase.'

'Hmmm...' Allie pretended to think for a while. 'I'm not sure but is it a suitcase?'

Diego's face lit up like a firework going off in the sky. 'How did you guess it so quickly? It's your go now.'

Allie looked around trying to think of something, her attention was drawn to the flickering lightbulb above their heads. 'I spy with my little eye something beginning with L.'

'Umm... Lion?' asked Diego.

'Lion? Where can you see a lion around here?' laughed Allie.

'I dunno... Is it a Lamborghini?'

'Because there's so many of them around...' smirked Allie. 'Come on Diego... This ones easy!'

'I know! I know!' Diego started jumping up and down excitedly.

'What is it then?'

'Its Louis!' He grinned and Allie followed to where his little finger was pointing at her best friend who was standing there smiling.

'Louis!' she exclaimed running forward to him. 'What are you doing here?'

'I had to say goodbye and there was something I needed to give you.' he told her.

'Well you're just in time. The eurostar is leaving any minute now.'

'I know but this is important.' he said, looking her in the eyes. 'Dominique and I have been talking... And she told me this specifically because you're going to France. And this might be completely irrelevant but what was your dads name?'

'Shaun Cotton.' she replied, confused. 'Why? What...'

'Allie do you know what happened when your dad died?'

'He was avada kedavra-ed. He tried to protect us.'

'Do you know why?'

'No... I never really thought about it...' Allie began to wonder now.

Louis handed her a rolled up bit of parchment, closing her fingers around it as he looked at the clock. 'This will explain. Just be careful Allie...'

'I will.' Allie was still confused.

'I don't know what I'm going to do without my best mate.' Louis smiled but there were tears welling up in his eyes and tears already pouring down Allie's face.

'I don't know what I'm going to do either. I'll miss you so much Louis. You need to buy a muggle device called a phone, then we can talk.' she told him through tears.

He pulled her into a hug, her tears soaking into his shirt. 'Goodbye Allie.' he pushed her away from the platform.

'Yeah... Goodbye.' she said as she joined her family in the train. Louis opened his mouth to say something but the doors had slid shut and Allie couldn't lip read.

The train began to slowly move off, and Allie took a final look at England, at her home, before it headed into the dark underground passage to France, to her new life.


	2. PART TWO

Hey, sorry it took so long for me to upload this but I've been working on it all week and writing as quickly as possible without rushing it. Thank you all for waiting and for your reviews because they make me so happy xD Anyway, hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think. (Epilouge coming soon)

* * *

><p>PART TWO<p>

The first thing she noticed when she came out of the station in Cannes was the brightness of the sun. The second thing was the heat, which kind of goes hand in hand with the bright sun but compared to the dreariness of Britain she was used to, anything was an improvement. The third thing she noticed was not really something she noticed as much as it was a realisation but she realised that this was where she was going to live.

The sky was cloudless and a crisp blue and the white sunlight shone down on the grass making it look so green that it could have been fake. There were neat little trees going alongside the roads and there were lots of people about, all of whom, at first glance, looked friendly enough.

'Come on. Have we got everything? Let's go find somewhere a bit less crowded where we can apparate.' Timmy said, leading them all to a narrow alleyway between two white stone shops. Leon put all of the boxes and suitcases in a pile and charmed them together so they wouldn't fall apart, he then placed his hand on the top of the pile and disappeared holding the pile with a loud crack. Timmy looked at everyone and they all joined hands as they apparated to their new apartment as well.

Their apartment was quite big, on the second highest floor of the block. It was semi open plan and very modern. A lot of the furniture was already there; the black leather sofas on the white tiled floor, the large windows flooding the apartment with light and the up-to-date kitchen; everything was like it belonged five years into the future.

From down the corridor there was the shout of Leon and Timmy in unison; 'Shotgun this room!'

'Allie, go and put all your things in one of the smaller rooms.' said her mother.

'Why do I get the smaller room?' she protested.

'Because Leon and Timmy have to share and I'm your mother, you can have the same size room as Diego.'

'Fine.' Allie sighed, picking up her things, that were now un-charmed and taking them to the room at the very end of the corridor.

She began to unpack the boxes with clothes in, hanging them up in the walk-in wardrobe. She pulled out her Hogwarts robe, knowing she was never going to need it again, she sighed throwing it onto her bed. Then she took out all of her posters and photos, magically sticking them to the walls, she put her Gryffindor banner on the back of her door and tied her tie around the handle. After she had unpacked it all, abandoning the boxes in the hallway, she sat on the low windowsill and looked down to the streets below. It was a long way down, about six storeys. She withdrew her wand from her pocket and began twirling it about in her fingers, just trying to take everything in, when her mother called her into the living-area.

'Allie… we need to get your school things.' she said as Allie sat down on the sofa.

'Yeah I know. I take it I'm going to Beauxbatons…' she stated. They had never actually discussed where she would attend school, but seeing as though Beauxbatons was the only wizarding school in France Allie assumed that was where she was heading.

'Beauxbatons?' A perplexed look came across her mother's face. 'You're going to Ville de Lalla.'

'There's more than one wizarding school in France?'

'Wizarding school?'

Allie's heart sank even lower than she thought possible. 'You mean… I'm not going to a wizard school? That I'm just going to become some kind of muggle?'

'Can you please use a different term? I don't like that word.' Asked her mum. 'And I know it's not exactly ideal but it's just one of those things that we have to deal with.'

'Why can't I go to a magical school? Why do I have to give up everything?' anger was rising in her voice.

'Allie, I'm not going to explain. It's just unsafe. I don't want anything to happen and something always happens around the magical kind.'

'Oh what a load of bollocks!' she yelled. 'You just don't like the fact I'm a witch! You didn't believe dad, and when he died you convinced yourself magic was dangerous!'

'Watch your language young lady!' retorted her mother.

'Whatever.' Allie sighed, storming off to her room, collapsing on the bed and falling asleep immediately.

It was about two am when she awoke to the sound of low voices outside. She got up and went to the window, looking down to see a group of about seven cloaked figures, one of whom was holding a crooked stick with a ball of light at the end of it. Wizards. They were speaking in hushed voices in French and even if they were speaking English it would be tricky to hear what they were saying. Allie watched as one of them withdrew a small parcel from his cloak and handed it to the one holding the wand. For just a second she caught the eye of one of them and hid behind her curtain, but it was too late, she'd been seen. She put her hand in her pocket looking for her wand but instead she found the bit of parchment from Louis.

Suddenly she saw the Gryffindor tie on the door handle turn as somebody opened the door. It was only Timmy.

'Ah you're awake.' He walked over and sat on the end of her bed. 'Listen, I spoke to mum.'

'And?'

'I convinced her not to make you go to muggle school.' But he carried on speaking before the smile on Allie's face had time to spread. 'But that doesn't mean you can go to Beauxbatons.'

'I don't really want to go there. I just don't want to not be a witch.'

'Allie.' Timmy looked her in the eye. 'Do you know?'

'No… Do I know what?' she asked.

Timmy saw the parchment in her hand and gently took it off her. 'What's this?' he opened it.

'Louis gave it to me. I haven't opened it yet.'

He sighed. 'This explains it. You'd know if you'd have read it.'

'Know what?' Allie repeated herself and Timmy gave the letter back to her so she read it.

_Allie._

_Be careful in France, there are people there who want things. And they aren't nice things either. There are lots of them. About 3000, from all over the world. And they have plans based around Cannes. In French the term Combattants Nouveaux is basically New Fighters. They are a cult of people who are convinced He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is still alive and are trying to find ways for his return. Allie, these are the people who killed your father. I'm sorry I couldn't have told you this earlier but Dom only told me last night._

_I wish you the best. Louis._

'I… But…How…' she stammered, reading over the letter again. 'They killed Dad?'

Timmy nodded. 'He stood in the way of their plans. Allie I'm sorry you didn't know this earlier, but this is why we can't be around wizards any more. We were safer in England but mum was convinced we are better off here. You're a lot like her, both extremely stubborn.'

'I'm not anything like her.'scowled Allie.

Timmy laughed slightly and that just made Allie scowl even more. 'Okay, okay. But you need to go somewhere, you can't just not go to school.'

'Sure I can. It's easy. I just don't go anywhere.'

He sighed and cupped one of her hands in both of his. 'Look, I'm not going to argue with you now. It's two thirty in the morning. But I'll tell you this; you are going somewhere, I'll make sure of that.' And he got up and walked out of the room.

Allie slumped onto her bed and curled up in a ball; pulling her old Hogwarts robe over her like a blanket. When she next awoke it was to the sound of Leon and her mother shouting at each other. She rolled over and looked at the clock; 8.22. Were they mad? She got up and slid her slippers on her feet, being careful to be as quiet as possible as she walked to the end of the corridor and hid behind the wall, looking at her arguing family.

'I don't want any child of mine going near _that sort_!' her mother was shouting.

'That sort? You mean what Timmy and I are? What dad was? What Diego will be and what she is meant to be becoming?' came Leon's reply. 'She's going to be a witch whether you like it or not Mum!'

'It's too dangerous!'

'It's too dangerous? You know bugger all about magic! You only think it's dangerous because dad died! And he did, but people die every day. His murder was no different to a gang shooting in a London alleyway.'

'You're just saying that. Anyway, it doesn't matter because she's not going anywhere and if she was it would be to a school for normal kids.'

'Listen, I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to go to Beauxbatons, but she'd prefer it to some muggle school. And if you send her to a muggle school it doesn't mean she's be safe. In fact she's be in even more trouble because there is no-one there to help her and the only thing it would do is expose magic to them.'

'Well maybe magic needs to be exposed, then we won't have to live in secret all the time!'

'Well it's not up to you to decide that. I've made up my mind. She's going to Beauxbatons.' Leon folded his arms stubbornly.

'No she bloody well isn't!' their mother replied, just as adamant as her children.

'Oh, I'm sorry. So you want to put your daughter's life in jeopardy?' Leon asked sarcastically. 'And this isn't just about her. All of us would be in danger. Every wizard and witch and muggle with relation to them. Because they don't give a crap about whom they kill. They just want Voldemort back!'

'Don't say that name. I may be a muggle but just don't say it.'

'Well it's true! Dad got in their way and they killed him. They have plans here, in the south of France. You were the one who wanted to move here.'

'Don't go putting that blame over me!' yelled their mother.

'Then don't be stupid. You know she'd be better off at a magical school. Do what's right.'

There was a silence that felt like it went on for a decade before their mother finally spoke. 'Alright.'

Leon's eyes widened. 'She can go?'

She sighed. 'Yes. She can go. Before I change my mind.'

'This is the right thing. She'll be safer around other magical people.' And Leon walked off, almost having a heart attack when he saw Allie hiding around the corner. 'What the bloody hell are you doing?'

'Eavesdropping.' replied Allie.

'Oh. Then I take it you know that you're going to Beauxbatons.'

'Yes.' Allie looked down. She didn't really want to go but it was better than her other options.

'Okay then.' Leon nodded, and then disappeared into his room.

Within the next week Allie was standing in front of the mirror in her room, wearing a blue silk dress, blazer and a matching hat. Her mother was at work so Leon did up the bow for the hat under her chin. He took a step back, no emotion on his face.

'I feel like a right prat.' Allie said, trying to loosen the ribbon around her neck.

'You look like one too.' smirked Leon.

'Hey! Shut up.'

'Have you packed all of your stuff?' he asked.

'Yeah.' Allie pointed to her trunk. It still had the Hogwarts crest on it and she wasn't planning on taking it off. 'I don't want to go Leon.'

'Well you have to.'

'What if I can't understand anything? What if I forget how to talk French? What if I don't get on with anyone? Which I probably won't because I'm crap at making friends.'

'Excuses. Excuses. Albatross you'll be fine. They know you're from England and you won't forget anything and as for the friends, just be yourself.' He told her.

'Like that ever works.'

'Look at me. You'll be fine. Come on, Timmy is going to apparate you there.'

'See! You can apparate! That means the combattants nouveaux can get in. It's a security risk!'

'Go.' He laughed slightly. 'Don't worry, anyway, you only have half a term then you can come home for Easter.'

'You ready Allie?' Timmy came in.

'Yeah. As ready as I'm ever going to be.' She picked up her trunk and went to the living room with Timmy, feeling slightly nervous, she took Timmy's hand and they both disappeared; appearing moments later at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.

It was a magnificent place. A castle a good few centuries newer than Hogwarts was perched in the middle of a large island of land surrounded by a lake. It was symmetrical with two curved towers, which were a storey higher than the rest, either side. And another two towers either side of the main entrance. There were two bells hovering above the end towers and turrets on the ones in the middle. It was made of white stone and had windows with elaborate frames and large oak doors carved with the most imaginative and beautiful scenes. The castle's reflection wiggled in the lake and Allie and Timmy looked around after they had finally stopped gawking.

'Welcome to Beauxbatons you must be Miss Cotton.' A very tall lady came up to them, speaking in French.

'Oui.' Allie nodded. 'Goodbye Timmy.' She hugged him just before he disapparated.

'You are from England?' the Lady asked, still speaking in French and Allie was surprised she could understand her. 'I am Madame De Grace. Headmistress of Beauxbatons. Come on, we'll go and get you registered.'

Allie followed her up the steps to the grand oak doors and inside. It was even more magnificent than the outside, with its high ceilings, wide staircases and elaborate banisters, the floating chandeliers holding candles, the stoned floor making patterns beneath her feet and everything had tiny little details.

'It's beautiful, yes?' said Madame De Grace.

'Yes. It is.' replied Allie, craning her neck to look around her.

There were lots of other people hanging around the corridors; Boys wearing navy trousers, the same blazers as the girls with the Beauxbatons logo, white shirts and a blue tie with the logo on it also; Girls wearing the same as Allie. All the new people were quite intimidating; they were all speaking French to each other and didn't notice her walking past.

'This way. We have four houses here at Beauxbatons; Lynxa, De Cafru, Levet and Patchbleu. You went to Hogwarts?' she hadn't stopped talking French.

There was a pause while Allie translated what she had just said to her. 'Yes. I was in Gryffindor.'

'Gryffindor.' Madame De Grace thought for a moment. 'You'd do best in Patchbleu. Come with me, we'll find someone from Patchbleu to show you around and lead you to the dormitory and common room.' They carried on walking. 'Megan!' called Madame, and a girl with brown hair and brown eyes, who was about the same age as Allie came walking over. She looked friendly enough.

'Oui Madame?' she asked.

'Allie here is new and I need you show her around.'

'Okay.' Megan agreed. 'Hello Allie, I'm Meg.'

'Hello Meg.'

'You have an accent. French isn't your first language.' Meg pointed out.

'No. I'm from England.'

'You are?' Meg's eyes lit up and she started talking English but with an American accent. 'I'm from America, finally someone who talks English. How long have you been in France?'

'About a week.' Allie replied in English.

'Geez, you came at a bad time then.'

'How come?'

'Have you not heard? About the Combattants Nouveaux?'

'Oh yeah them.' Allie looked down.

'They killed my parents. I came here five years ago with my foster parents.' Meg said sadly.

'I'm sorry.' said Allie. 'They killed my dad.'

'You'd better watch out as well then.' Meg told her.

'Why? They're after you?'

'They're after anyone who is related to those that have previously stood in their way. They believe it runs in the blood.'

'Oh.'

'But best not to worry about it. We're safe here.' Meg said, trying to sound happy. 'Come on, I'll show you the Patchbleu common room.'

So Allie followed her to one of the far towers and noticed that Meg was wearing a pair of converse. She decided that she seemed quite nice and that she might actually be able to make a friend.

'Nice shoes.' Allie pointed out.

'Oh yeah. Well, the uniform of this place is stupid anyway and converses are cool.' Meg smirked.

'They are.' Allie agreed as they walked into a circular room with a chocolate brown carpet, white walls and brown sofas; curved to fit the walls. In the middle of the room there was a spiral staircase with the words _salles de dortoir _hovering above it. There was also a blazing fireplace on the wall and blue banners with the logo of a black dog on them.

'This is the Patchbleu common room. The dormitories are up those stairs, the boys on the left, the girls on the right. Have you got your timetable yet?'

'No.'

'Right. Let's go to the office and get that. The head of house is Monsieur Browne, he's also quidditch coach.'

'Awesome. Are Patchbleu any good at quidditch?' asked Allie.

'The best. We always win.' Meg smirked. They arrived at a door and she knocked on it; a split second later it opened, a small man with spiky hair opened it.

'Ah Madam Atkins, how can I help you?' he asked in French and Meg replied in the same language.

'Allie has just started today and she doesn't have a timetable yet.'

'Allie Cotton? I have a timetable for her here.' He handed Allie a bit of parchment. 'How are you finding Beauxbatons?'

Allie paused as she translated.'It's great, thank you.'

He smiled and shut his office door and Allie looked at the parchment in her hand. Meg got hers out as well and glanced between the two. 'You're in most of my classes. We have divination after this lunch break is over.' Meg said. 'You've still got your trunk! Come put it in the dorm.' So Allie followed her to the dorm, relieved to be free of her luggage and then went to divination.

They went to the lowest floor and to a large room lit by hundreds of tiny floating candles. There were semi-circle tables covered with white table cloths each with a crystal ball in the centre and each table could fit around four people on it. The room smelt sweet and was very warm thanks to the candles.

A boy with light brown curly hair and brown eyes came up to Allie and Meg, kissing Meg on the cheeks. 'Hi Meg, who's your friend?' he asked in French.

'This is Allie Cotton. She's new and has just moved from England. And Allie, this is Adrien Deforest, my boyfriend.' she introduced them.

'Pleased to meet you.' said Adrien, holding out his hand.

'You too.' said Allie, shaking it, surprised at how formal he was being. She looked around her at the other people and it was like a typical muggle high school. There were the popular, pretty, girly-girls; the rebels; the geeks; the sports people and then just Allie, Meg and Adrien. Oh, and a girl who was standing on the other side of the corridor on her own.

She had shoulder length, wavy, light brown hair and brown eyes with a kind of distant look about them. She didn't look as though she belonged in any social group. She was wearing white high top trainers and she had various badges pinned on her blazer over the top of the Beauxbatons logo. But perhaps the odd thing was is that somehow she looked quite innocent, even if she was scowling.

Adrien noticed that she was scowling at him and quickly turned away. 'Sorry. That's my twin sister Rai, she's definitely the evil twin. No wonder she got put in Levet; where all the cunning people go, and where all the people who don't trust anybody else go. She's just like my dad.' he sighed.

It became apparent within the first few days that Meg was the only other person who spoke a word of English. Allie looked forward to the few spare minutes she could get to owl her family. She loved to hear from them. It turned out that Louis had managed to get hold of a muggle phone but hadn't a clue how to use it, his aunt Hermione helped with that, but he's worked out how to phone but not that you don't have to shout down it. Her mother had got a job as a nurse but she worked the night shifts so she'd be away all night and asleep all day.

Leon and Timmy had managed to get a job within the French Ministry of magic. There was only one job between them but being identical twins came in handy so they just switched each day. Diego had started showing signs of magic so he had to be taken out of the muggle nursery, but it was okay because one of the twins would just look after him. France was turning out to not be so bad after all.

At school Allie spent her time with Meg, Adrien and other friends of theirs. Darcy; a small, cheerful girl with dark auburn hair and hazel eyes full of innocence, Fabien; who was the joker, he had blond hair that he needed cut and cheeky green eyes and Philippe; the one with short brown hair, Darcy's cousin, who was very quiet at first but when they got him to lighten up he was a right laugh. She had made more friends than she thought she was ever going to make. None of them spoke English; no matter how much Allie and Meg tried to teach them but they were cool. They were all in Patchbleu and it was actually one day whilst they were sitting in the common room on the sofa, a few days before the end of term, that Fabien came up with the idea.

'My parents are away for most of the Easter holiday. So I have a plan; I'm going to invite loads of people around for a massive house party!' his eyes were gleaming.

'Okay…' Philippe seemed a bit unsure of the idea.

'C'mon Phil, it'll be great fun!'Fabien tried to persuade him.

'Well…I'm not sure…'

'Ah, don't worry. It's just going to be a laugh. That's all.' Adrien tried to help convince him. 'Nothing's going to happen.'

'See?' Fabien was glad someone agreed with him. 'It doesn't matter because I'm having the party anyway. I'd just like one of my best friends to actually turn up.' He looked around at the others.

'I'm in.' said Darcy immediately.

'So am I.' said Adrien.

'I am.' Meg chimed.

'I guess I am too.' Allie agreed and they all turned to Philippe, awaiting his answer.

'Oh fine. You lot blackmailed me into it…' he sighed.

'We did no such thing.' laughed Fabien, and Philippe shot him a look but quickly started grinning too.

Fabien's house was massive, it had four storeys. His parents were away so they had the run of the place. Fabien did have an older brother but he was at university. Allie, Meg, Philippe, Darcy, Adrien and much to everyone's surprise, Rai, all turned up early because they were helping to set up.

'Why did you bring her?' Darcy whispered to Adrien, gesturing to Rai who was just standing awkwardly in the kitchen doorway, not speaking to anyone.

'Well I could hardly not bring her could I.' he replied. 'I told my dad that we had to work on a project and he said that I had to bring her because he didn't want her alone whilst he was at work.'

'What exactly is your dad's job?' asked Darcy.

Adrien looked down, and mumbled. 'Doesn't matter.'

Darcy sighed and went off to answer the door to the pizza delivery man when Fabien came in around the side of the house carrying a massive crate and wearing an even bigger grin on his face. 'I got alcohol. Now it's going to be a party!'

'Oh god.' Philippe shook his head disapprovingly. 'The last thing we need is you drunk. You're bad enough when you're sober.'

Fabien put the crater down on the table, went into the garden, and returned with another one. 'It's my brother's. He has loads in the garage.'

Darcy came back in with the pizzas and put them on the table too. 'What's in these crates?' she asked.

'Some alcoholic beverages for our guests.' Fabien smirked.

'Great. Let the party begin!' she replied.

As it turns out, Fabien had invited over half the year from school. Most of them arrived in groups, many bringing more beer or vodka. Allie wondered how fifteen year olds had managed to get hold of so much alcohol, but then again, most of them looked a lot older. Fabien's brother had one of those home stereo systems that muggles have and it was currently blasting music at full volume, making the walls shake ever so slightly.

'Fabien. What about your neighbours?' Philippe asked.

'Don't worry. I used my brother's wand to make any sound from the house silent.' He replied, cracking open his second bottle of beer.

'Hmm…' said Philippe, who still was unsure about the party.

It was about midnight when everybody started to get more than a little bit tipsy. Fabien came over to Allie and started telling her about the time he lived inside a dragon but then he was rescued by Harry Potter.

'I've met Harry Potter.' said Allie matter-of-factly.

Fabien's eyes widened and he spilt some of his drink down him. 'He saved you from a dragon too?'

'Yes… I'm going to take the beer off of you now.' she reached out a hand to take it away from him but he hugged it close to him like a child with their teddy bear.

'No.' he said scowling. 'Get your own…' and he downed the rest of the bottle.

Allie shook her head and walked away as quickly as possible. The loud music was giving her a headache so she went downstairs and into one of the living rooms, there were a lot of people in there too. Darcy had glow in the dark stripes painted on her face and was trying to sing whilst simultaneously drinking vodka. Philippe was just sitting there, staring out the window, not speaking. He saw Allie and smiled so she went over to him.

'What's the matter Philippe?' she asked, sitting next to him. 'Why aren't you getting drunk like the rest of them?'

'I… Allie… can you keep a secret?' he said quietly.

'Yes, of course.' she smiled to show she was genuinely telling the truth. 'Why? What's up?'

'My brother was an alcoholic and he died when he was 23, I was only 2. None of the others know.' He turned and looked her in the eyes, suddenly worried. 'Please don't tell anyone.' He pleaded.

'My lips are sealed. I promise.'Allie mimed zipped her lips shut at throwing away the key.

'Go have fun with the rest of them.' He smiled. Glad that he could trust someone.

'And you're alright?'

'I'm fine.' He nodded. 'Go on.'

So Allie went into the kitchen and saw Meg sitting there staring at a half empty bottle of beer, she went and sat next to her, speaking English. 'Hi Meg.'

'Hi.' She replied. 'How are you finding the party?'

'It's good. But I guess I'm just not the party sort of person.'

Meg laughed slightly. 'I guess that makes two of us.'

'And Philippe.' Allie replied.

'Alright then three. Hey have you seen Adrien?' Meg asked.

'No sorry, I haven't seen him in a while actually.'

'Ah well. He's gotta be here somewhere. I'm going to find the others and see what they're up to, you coming?' she asked.

'Nah, I'm going to go outside. I need some fresh air.' Allie told her.

'Okay then. See ya.' Meg walked out of the kitchen and Allie into the garden.

Fabien's garden was even bigger than the house. It was a massive stretch of land with trees all down the sides that were like the family's own personal forest. Allie went and sat on a rock next to the pond, trying to clear her head, when she heard voices from the forest, they were speaking in French and it sounded like they were having an argument. Allie recognised one of the voices; it was Adrien. She didn't recognise the other so she silently got up and made her was over to the forest, hiding behind a tree, she poked her head round and saw that Adrien was arguing with Rai. Allie made an attempt to translate what they were saying.

'Why do you have to be like this all the time?' Adrien was asking.

'Why do you always have to go against the plan?' Rai snapped.

'Why do you have to do everything dad says?' Adrien retorted. 'You're scared of him.'

'No. I'm not scared of anything.'Rai crossed her arms. 'Stop trying to change the subject.'

'I've done more than you have for the plan! In case you haven't noticed I've gained the trust of the daughters of two blockers.'

'Yes. And you've done bugger all with that. You need to invite them to the house or something, so that the CN can finish them off.' Rai growled.

Allie tried her best to supress a gasp. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was this really Adrien's plan all along? She needed to warn Meg, but she stayed to listen to the rest of the conversation.

'I..I…' stammered Adrien.

'You what? Don't tell me you've chickened out.'

Adrien looked down and didn't reply.

'Adrien…' Rai said calmly. 'Have you?'

There was a long pause. 'I don't want to be like you. I most certainly don't want to be like Dad.' He looked up, a kind of sorrow in his eyes. 'I can't do that to Allie, she's one of my best friends.'

'What about Meg?'

'No!' he suddenly became quite angry. 'I won't let anything happen to her.'

'Why? Because you're in luurrve?'Rai joked.

Adrien was silent once again. He carried on staring at the floor. 'And if I was?'

Now Rai was the one who took her time to reply. 'But… that wasn't part of the plan…'

'I know, I know. But I couldn't have foreseen it any more than you could've.'

'Please tell me you're joking.'Rai sounded quite worried.

'Rai… Do you know what happened when Mum died? They killed her. The CN killed her and they would've killed us and Dad too, but he made them a deal; that if he joined them we would remain safe…'

'They killed Mum? He told me it was an accident. Why didn't I know this before? Why didn't you tell me?'

'Because… you'd overreact.'

'Psshh, I'm not over reacting. I'm fine.' She did her best to sound normal but it wasn't working. 'He lied to me…'

'What other choice did he have?'Adrien asked. It was a rhetorical question.

'I miss her Adrien.' Her voice cracked and in the dark night Allie could see a tear slide down her face.

Adrien pulled her in and hugged her, resting his chin on top of her head. 'I do too. But at least now you understand.'

Allie realised that she was spying and carefully walked back inside. She didn't trust Rai to begin with, but Adrien? Why would he agree to something like that? She felt very upset; she thought they were friends. As she walked into the kitchen she saw Meg sitting there with the same bottle of beer as last time.

'Is that your partying done for now then?' Allie asked, taking a beer for herself. She had never tried muggle alcohol before but decided it tasted better than firewhisky any day.

'Yeah. I still can't find Adrien though…'

'Oh I saw him he's…' Allie was interrupted by a loud knocking at the front door.

'C'EST LA POLICE! OUVREZ LA PORTE!' It didn't take a genius to be able to translate that.

Allie and Meg ran into the hallway where most people had now assembled. All eyes were on Fabien who, even in his drunken state, looked shocked. He opened the door, holding his beer bottle behind his back and said in French; as innocently as possible. 'Yes officers?'

'We've had complaints about the noise coming from this house. Are your parents in?' asked a police officer.

Fabien opened his mouth to talk but a shot of red light hit the officer in the chest and he collapsed to the ground, the other police officers standing there shocked.

'Are you mad?' Darcy hissed at the Lynxa boy who had just stupefied the policeman.

'No. Just very drunk.' He smirked, waving his wand around.

'What on earth…?' one of the policemen started but within seconds he, and the other four, fell to the ground unconscious as well; revealing seven members of the French Ministry of Magic. One of them was Timmy.

'Right. Everyone out now.' said a tall, dark haired man. Allie translated this order when she saw everybody else go out into the front garden.

'What's going on?' asked Adrien who had just appeared, Allie glared at him, he'd lost all trust she'd ever had in him but he didn't notice.

'The police came… then the ministry…' Meg told him. 'Anyway, where have you been?'

'Oh.' He replied. 'I had to sort something out.'

'Right…' said Meg and everyone turned their attention to the Ministry people.

They were all expecting to be punished at for underage drinking and underage magic but the ministry man just looked around at them all and said; 'Come on, we need to get you back to Beauxbatons as fast as possible.'

Then he levitated an old book, a cushion and a length of rope and told everyone on the count of three to grab hold of one of the objects. They were portkeys.

'Un…deux…trois…' Allie grabbed hold of the rope and she was sent swirling around through the air for what felt like eternity until they came crashing to the grass outside of Beauxbatons. She stood up, brushing herself off.

'There's no time to explain. Everybody go inside in an orderly fashion, don't ask any questions just do as you're told and wait in the main hall for further instructions. Now!' ordered the ministry man, and then he turned to have a discussion with the other ministry workers.

Madame De Grace came running out of the castle looking very flustered. 'Is it true? Have you sent for all other pupils? Please say it's not real!''

'Madame if you would just calm down and lead these children inside to the great hall; we are getting everything under control.' The man told her.

'Oh my Merlin!' she exclaimed.'Come on children, follow me inside. It's all under control.' but anyone could tell she didn't believe what she had just said.

'What's happening?' asked Meg, going back to French, confused, as they all made their way behind the others to the main hall.

'I'm not sure…' said Adrien over the top of the noise everybody else was making. 'But… I'm sure we're all going to be just fine.'

'How can you tell?' Allie looked around at the worried faces of everyone else.

'I can't. But we hope for the best.'

In the hall most of the students were now gathered there. More and more were arriving by floo powder in the fireplaces being ushered by ministry officials. Many of them accompanied by parents. Allie heard a scream and looked around to see a little first year girl with two blonde pigtails burst into tears, shaking with fright. What was going on? One young man apparated and his leg was slightly splinched so he was rushed away, screaming in agony, to the hospital wing. Lots of people who didn't attend Beauxbatons were now arriving; ex-pupils; ministry workers; families, and each one looked as frightened as the others. To Allie's surprise she saw Leon arrive by floo with Diego. She ran over to him straight away.

'Leon… what the hell is happening?'

'Don't worry Albatross it's all under control.' He avoided eye-contact.

'That's not the answer to the question I asked.' Allie replied and she repeated herself; 'What is happening?'

Leon sighed and looked her in the eyes. 'Okay… now, don't get worried but the Combattants Nouveaux have been planning something for a while. It just so happens they chose today to act on it. They have broken into at least forty homes to witches and wizards, killing around ninety. And any innocent muggles they pass on the way.'

'What? Where's Mum? Is she okay?'Allie was suddenly worried.

'I told you not to worry. She's fine; she's gone to a safe house for the muggles, its maximum security.' He let out another sigh. 'They're getting stronger. But you're all safer here, in numbers. Whatever you do; obey all the teachers and do not go anywhere on your own. You hear me?'

'Okay.'

'Promise?' he insisted.

'Okay fine. I promise.' She nodded, but something else had caught her attention. Something that had just arrived by floo powder. 'Louis!'

She ran over to where Louis, Dominique, Victorie, Bill, Fleur, Harry, Ginny, James, Albus and Lily had all just arrived in twos by floo powder. There were more coming; Ron, Hermione, Rose, Hugo, Scorpius, Draco, Astoria, Teddy, George, Angelina, Fred II, Roxanne, Percy, Audrey, Molly II, Lucy, all of Louis' uncles and aunts and his grandparents. It was the whole Weasley/Potter clan.

'What? What are you all doing here?' Allie asked.

'We came to visit my auntie Gabrielle over Easter and we were going to come and visit you as a surprise.'Louis explained. 'But then we heard about the Combattants Nouveaux and Dad sent a patronus to Uncle Harry, who came along immediately with Ginny, James, Al and Lily. Then family by family everyone else turned up. Everybody wants to be a part of this, we all want to be able to look back and say; we fought off some of the darkest wizards since the death eaters themselves.'

That was when it happened. Lots of people were worried it would happen but there wasn't a single person it didn't catch off guard. A loud bang. A flash of light. Then the light spread, all around the grounds inside of the lake. Fire. The intense heat sent sweat trickling down everybody's brows and the flames were licking at the castle, dangerously close. Some of the ministry people ran out immediately trying to extinguish it; they managed to push it back a metre or so but it wouldn't go out.

Allie didn't remember much of the few minutes following that. It was all a blur. Someone grabbed her from behind, pulling her away from the smoke that was coming in through the window. She was coughing and spluttering; that was all you could hear in the hall. Coughing, spluttering, screaming, crying and… What was that? Suddenly most people went quiet as a group of around 100 hooded figures apparated to the stage in the hall, letting out an ear-piercing sound to get everyone's attention. One of them started speaking in French using a spell to amplify his voice.

'Good evening Ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls…' he cleared his throat, he was obviously the leader. 'Do not try to apparate or floo, you will fail and you will perish. Stay calm and no-one gets hurt. Stay calm and you can keep your life for a little longer.'

There was a scream from an old lady and no sooner had it left her mouth than she was hit in the chest with a green flash of light and fell to the ground; dead.

'That's a nice little example for you all there.' smirked the man. 'Anyone else? No? Didn't think so… now we'd like to have a nice little interview with each one of you. _Privately._' He looked around the room at the hundreds of scared faces before him; the smirk growing wider on his face; a malicious look in his eyes. It made Allie feel sick to look at him 'Let's start with the youngest first!' he announced as if he was deciding who would start a board game. 'And oh look; the others are here just in time for the party to start.'

Every head in the room turned to the back of the hall where literally around seven hundred hooded, cloaked figures with painted faces has just appeared on the spot with a crack.

'Welcome friends!' the leader opened his arms, smirking again. 'Yes... so as I was saying; youngest first! Now, we'll have five little sessions going on at one time. You do not answer our questions; you pay the consequences.' Smoke was now filling the room but nobody dared to cough. 'Every child under the age of three will come in with a parent. Any child aged four and above shall be treated just the same as anybody else. Now all of you waiting your turn; stay calm. Do not interrupt and it will all be over as soon as we find out what we want.' He smiled grotesquely. 'Now, let's look for any child over the age of four...' and the rest of the CN that were up on stage began to spread out among the crowd; dragging any four year old they could see away.

Diego! Allie's mind was racing. Where was he? She had to find him. She slowly began making her way through the crowd, a millimetre at a time so they couldn't see her moving. Her eyes were incredibly sore from the smoke and her lungs felt as if they were on fire too. Then she saw him. He had found his way to Dominique and she was, as carefully and quietly as possible, trying to calm him down. She looked up at Allie as she came over and took Diego by the hand. Allie smiled at her to show her thanks and Dom nodded to say you're welcome. Neither of them dared say it aloud.

A baby in its mother's arms began to wail but it was soon silenced by that deadly green light. The mother let out a cry and sunk to her knees; cradling the lifeless child and she was soon hit with the curse too. This evil was beyond anything Allie could have imagined in her deepest, darkest nightmares. The members of the Combattants Nouveaux were terribly frightening. They wore black hooded cloaks and their faces were painted a brilliant white. Most disturbing of all was the eyes. They were wearing contact lenses that made every part of their eyes black so they were like deadly holes in their faces that could stare into your soul and turn it to ice in the time it takes to blink.

Allie put her hands over Diego's eyes so that he didn't have to look at them. He was completely silent but she could feel his warm tears on her palm and his wet eyelashes tickled her as he blinked away more tears. Eventually they were back to where Timmy was. Allie wondered where Leon had got to. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Timmy and he just shrugged his shoulders.

The first five children had been taken away and every member that was up on stage had left to interrogate them. The remaining members, as smoothly as a ripple in the water, formed a circle around the rest of the people; trapping them in the hall. There was the sound of a girl screaming from a classroom where the sessions were being held followed by a smack. Whispers began to throw themselves around the hall and a few people dared to cough, the CN around them didn't seem to do anything; just stand there like beefeaters at Buckingham Palace.

'Allie... Allie I'm scared. What's going to happen?' Diego was tugging at her sleeve, a petrified look in his big brown eyes.

'I don't know Diego. Don't worry; it's all going to be okay.' She bent down to his level.

'And it's all going to be awesome?' he sounded so innocent.

A trace of a smile flickered on Allie's face, or maybe it was just a trick of the light. 'Yes.' She said. 'It's all going to be awesome.'

Then the leader who was speaking before came in, pushing forward a little girl who now had a red mark and scratches down her cheek. He looked around the room and to Allie's horror his eyes fell on Diego. He smiled sickeningly as he grabbed Diego by the shoulder and dragged him off. Allie wanted to help. She wanted to run and save her little cousin but she knew where it would end for them both. She watched as he tried to turn back to her; silent tears rapidly falling down his rosy cheeks; but it was too late. He had left the hall and there was nothing Allie could do but hope and pray and wait.

That was the second thing that nobody expected; all hell broke loose. Harry, Ron and Hermione came running in with around fifty ministry workers all with their wands drawn and they were stupefying CN members left, right and centre.

Within a matter of minutes around 70 people lay on the floor; never to breathe again. About 20 of these people were members of the CN and more people were about to fall when the members leading the interrogation appeared on stage; five little children with them. The one the leader was holding was Diego.

He had him by the collar of his shirt and was just dangling him in the air like he was a puppy. Allie looked Diego in the eye and I don't think there is a word to describe how she felt. Her heart was in her throat and it was beating on full volume. She felt sick in the pit of her stomach and like she wanted to scream.

'Well isn't this nice?' asked the leader, still holding Diego. 'A little bit of a rebellion. People trying to fight back? No... We can't have that here, can we?' he was directing the question at Diego who ever so slightly shook his head. 'The boy is correct. Does anyone know what happens to those that get in our way?' Nobody spoke even though they all knew the answer. 'They have to pay the price. Say son, what's your name?' he asked Diego who was just hanging there in his grip.

'Je m'appelle Diego Brunwick.' he said barely louder than a whisper.

'Brunwick?' The leaders eyes widened. 'Was your father Tony Brunwick.' Diego nodded, trying not to cry. 'I remember Tony Brunwick.' snarled the leader, tightening his grip on Diego so that Allie could see how much pain the poor child was in. 'His blood runs in your veins, boy. So you know what we have to do with you...'

'No!' Allie gasped but nobody heard her.

'We must dispose of you.' smirked the leader.

Diego began to wriggle and squirm trying to break free of the man's grip. His face was flushed and there were streaks all down it from where he'd been crying. But this time he wasn't crying he just wanted to be let go of. That wasn't going to happen. The leader lifted him up like he weighed as much as a tennis ball and threw him against a wall. There was a smack as the little boy's head hit the stone.

Allie wasn't stupid. She knew what blunt force trauma to the head did. 'DIEGO!' she screamed; running over to the small child.

A few CN members drew their wands; ready to kill her. But the leader held them off, saying he wanted to watch this.

'Diego... Diego please...' she knelt down beside him, squeezing one of his tiny hands as salty tears trickled down her face.

'Allie...' he said in barely more than a whisper, his eyelids fluttering to sat open. 'Don't worry... It's all going to be awesome...'

And that was it. Silence. Almost immediately Allie could feel the heat being lost from his body. She gently closed his eyelids over his big brown eyes; he looked so peaceful; like he was asleep.

It was Louis that started it. He'd always had a beautiful voice. He came and knelt next to Allie and began to sing softly; 'Frere jauques, frere jauques, Dormez vous?'

More and more people began to join in; until basically the whole hall was singing, sending Diego off. 'Dormez vous? Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines. Ding dang dong. Ding dang dong.'

It sent goosebumps all over Allie but they weren't because she was scared or cold. It was because all the voices singing in chorus together was so beautiful. A tear fell from her eye and onto Diego's body, she carefully picked him up with Louis' help and they carried him to where Timmy and Leon were standing trying not to shed any tears of their own.

Allie turned around to the sound of slow, sarcastic clapping from the leader. 'Well done. I must say that was quite a show.' he smirked again. 'Encore!' he cackled.

Allie didn't think. She was angry. She was upset. 'You bastard! You killed him! You killed an innocent child! I'm going to fucking rip open your chest and I bet I'll be right. I bet I won't find a heart!' she screamed, more tears spilling onto her face.

The man laughed. 'Look at that. The little girl is angry.' and all the other CN members laughed too.

Every eye was now on Allie, she could feel her cheeks reddening. Suddenly she withdrew her wand and without any second thought she sent a bolt of red light at the leader. 'Stupefy!'

He managed to dodge just in time and was about to laugh when it all set off. A full scale battle in the hall within a matter of seconds.

Flashes of light and screaming. Someone had knocked out the other CN members holding the children and they had managed to escape. It was all like something out of a dream. Allie span around to see four members closing in on her; their wands drawn. She stupefied one of them and put a body bind curse on another but there were still two that were sending green lights towards her that she was jumping over like hurdles. Then, literally from nowhere, they hit the ground. Allie looked around to see who had saved her but she couldn't see who. Then somebody grabbed her from behind and she nearly let out a scream, until she saw who it was.

'James... What are you doing?' she whispered. They were under some sort of silky material and no-one was firing at them.

'I'm helping people out of this hall with my dad's invisibility cloak.' he smiled slightly.

'You are?' Allie's eyes widened.

'Yeah. Now come on, be really careful and quiet.'

Allie nodded and followed him towards one of the doors. It was wide open but it was guarded by a CN member. However James knew what he was doing. He led her to where there was a small gap the member's body wasn't blocking and very carefully they inched their way through. They had done it. They had escaped from the hall.

'Come with me, I'll show you where everyone else is hiding.' he said, taking off the invisibility cloak once they were past all the members.

'James, you've saved my life.' Allie grinned. 'Thank you.'

'Meh, it's all part of being the chosen ones son I guess.' he smirked.

Allie laughed and they both fell silent as they slowly walked down a darkened corridor; lit only by the light of the flames outside.

'Allie,' James said after a while. 'You could have just told me that you were moving to France...'

Allie looked down. 'I... I didn't know how.' she admitted. She looked up and saw that James was looking at her sadly. 'I'm sorry...'

They both carried on down the corridor until James said what they'd both been dying to say; 'I've missed you.'

'I've missed you too.' Allie said, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him.

James smiled. 'Look, everyone else is just down there in one of the charms classroom. I'm going to have to go back and get some more people.'

Allie nodded as she watched him disappear under the invisibility cloak again. Then she turned and went to the classroom that he had told her about.

She arrived and saw quite a few familiar faces. Meg, Adrien, Rai, Darcy and Phillipe.

'Where's Fabien?' she looked around.

'He's...' Darcy looked down, tears in her eyes.

'He thought he could take on seven members of the CN at once.' Meg explained. 'He thought wrong.'

'Oh.' Allie stared at the floor trying to believe that one of her best friends was dead. She shook her head to stop any tears. 'Right.'

She looked up as James ushered twin girls about the age of seven in. 'Où est maman?' one of them asked.

'I'm going to see if I can find her now.' James said but there was no way the girl understood his English. He looked up and smiled at Allie before going back under the invisibility cloak again.

'Hang on...' Allie told the others and she rushed out of the room without giving them a chance to reply. She needed to find James but that's hard when he's invisible. She whispered his name but there was no reply so she carried on running towards the main hall, hiding behind a staircase. 'James!' she whispered again and this time he must have heard her because he appeared out of nowhere next to her.

'What?'

Allie almost jumped out of her skin but then she realised it was him. 'I just wanted to say...' she paused. What did she want to say? She looked up into his eyes.

'Allie. You only live once and if we make it out of here alive then you'll be moving back to England.' He looked back at her. 'Do you think that if...' he stopped.

'If?'

'That if you'd never moved to France... we'd still be together?'

'Honestly... Yes I do.' She answered.

'Then... why don't we just get back together?' he was deadly serious.

'Why not?' Allie smiled. 'I mean who...' she was cut off by his kiss. She had missed him. She looked up at him and smiled again. 'Go.' She said. 'Go save more people.'

'If you insist.' He smirked and vanished again.

Allie sat there on the staircase waiting for him to return. She had thought of what she wanted to tell him and this time she was sure. She stared at the doorway waiting for him to come back; he must be nearly in the hall by now. Her heart skipped a beat. No. It couldn't be happening. But it did. She watched in horror as one of the guards stepped backwards onto the invisibility cloak pulling it off of him. He just stood there; shocked. Allie tried to scream his name but no sound came out. The guard looked shocked as well but he soon got over it and snarled at James in French.

'Alright boy. You're game is up.' He grabbed him by the neck and dragged him off to the leader.

There was no-one guarding that part of the door now so Allie ran forward and picked up the invisibility cloak. She was about to follow them under it when she heard the sound of screams coming from the charms classroom and people running. She turned backwards and saw them all running past; slipping under the cloak, she followed them.

'Meg!' she took it off. 'What happened?'

'Holy shit Allie you scared me!' Meg gasped.

'What happened? Why did you leave the classroom?'

'It set on fire!' Meg told her and Allie noticed she had soot all over her and a nasty burn on her cheek. 'Not everybody made it out, but by the amount of noise they made it's not going to take long for the Combattants Nouveaux to find us.'

'Oh god.' Allie folded up the invisibility cloak and put it in her pocket.

'Everyone split up!' Adrien yelled. 'That way it will be harder for them to find us!'

Allie, Meg and Adrien took one turn up a flight of stairs. As they were passing the window Allie looked outside to see the flames more violent than ever and more battles going on. They had been running for ages. 'Where are we even going?' Allie asked in English and to her surprise Adrien answered.

'To the Patchbleu common room. It's safer there.'

Both Allie and Meg stopped and stared at him in shock. 'You can speak English.' Meg said. 'Why didn't you tell us before? How?'

'My mum was English... I... I haven't spoken a word of it since she...' he explained. 'Anyway, now is not the time to discuss this.' So they all carried on running down the corridor.

They were nearly at the entrance when a CN member stepped out of nowhere and pulled Adrien back.

'Adrien! Leave him alone!' Meg shouted at the leader.

'Don't tell me what to do with my son.' Snarled the member and Meg looked at Adrien, wide-eyed.

'Your dad? Why? What? Why didn't you tell me?'

'Because...'

'Is this them?' his dad shook him.

Allie hung her head as she remembered what she had overheard. 'This has all been part of your plan hasn't it Adrien?' He didn't answer. So she repeated herself. 'Hasn't it?'

'Plan? What plan?' Meg was confused.

'I can't believe you!' Allie was fuming. 'We were supposed to be friends. You told Rai that you...'

'You heard?' Now it was Adrien's turn to be shocked.

'Will somebody please tell me what's going on?' Meg insisted.

'Your boyfriend is a liar!' Allie said. 'He's been setting us up for the CN to get us just because our parents stood in their way!'

'Adrien?' Meg looked at him, hoping he would deny it.

'It _is_ them!' said Adrien's father triumphantly.

'No! Dad no! Please!' Adrien begged.

'Shut up you stupid child.' And he smacked Adrien around the face. 'I'll do what I bloody well like and just remember your part in this!'

'I didn't want a part.' Adrien's voice was cracking. 'You left me no choice! Always hitting me all the time; refusing to feed me. It was either that or be slowly killed by my own father!'

'Don't you dare...'

'You've turned into a right son-of-a-bitch since mum died! You can't even love your own children! Maybe we'd have been better off if we had been killed seven years ago.' Adrien was silenced by another smack.

'Come on Meg, let's get out of here.' Allie said as they turned to run away but four other members blocked their way.

'Well, well, well. What have we here? Two little beauties. Need I ask your last names?' one of them smirked, stepping closer towards them.

They were trapped. There was nowhere they could run. They walked around back to back trying to look for some escape but it was too late. The members launched themselves at them and before long they were being held, struggling in the air between two members each.

'Let me go! Now!' Meg shouted, kicking at one of the people holding her but it did no use. They just laughed.

'I...I...I'm so sorry...' Adrien wasn't crying, he was sobbing.

Meg stopped kicking and looked at him, tears in her eyes and her voice shaking. 'I thought that you lo...' she cut herself off as they were dragged away, no idea where they were going.

Neither of them tried to struggle because it would just make the end even worse for both of them. They were taken to the underground dungeons where they normally had potions except now the corridors were being used as a place to store all the prisoners they were keeping captive. It was very dark and boiling hot because of the roaring fire outside and most of the people in there were crying or unconscious. They got dragged down more corridors the smell of sweat and blood becoming ever more present until they reached a certain part where they were cuffed to the wall with their hands above their heads. One of them kicked Allie in the face giving her a nosebleed so she spat on his shoe which earned her a kick in the shins.

'Allie are you insane?' Meg hissed. 'What did you do that for?'

'That bastard deserved it.' Allie replied. Blood was trickling down into her mouth and she could taste it. Beads of sweat were rolling down the side of her face. Her heart was pounding a million miles an hour in her chest and there was a lump in her throat telling her to cry; but she didn't. She had to stay strong. She thought of all the people lying dead around the castle and she knew that she and Meg could very well be next.

There was a small window in a door that was covered with bars where somebody was being held. Who was it? Whoever it was must have done something really wrong because they were getting curses thrown at them every five seconds. Knowing she would regret it but not caring Allie stood up on her tip toes trying to see who it was and she nearly fainted with shock. It was James.

He was being held a few feet in the air against a wall by a knife in the back of his jumper. She watched feeling sick as another hooded figure shot a bolt of red light at him. He writhed in the air but didn't scream. He was trying to stay strong. There was blood all over him and he had a black eye and still he was being tortured. This was horrible, Allie couldn't bring herself to watch it yet she couldn't tear her eyes away.

She sank back down and Meg asked her what it was. 'It's James.' She replied. 'I have to go save him... I need to get him out of there.'

Meg nodded. 'But what can you do? We're tied up here and the chances of us being let go aren't the most likely odds.'

Allie sighed as she realised how impossible it was. 'Meg. I love him.'

'And you think I couldn't tell that?' Meg was smiling slightly but it faded within an instant. 'I mean; I loved Adrien but look where that got me. Chained up in a dungeon and only god knows how long I've got left.'

'I'm sorry.' Allie looked down. 'I knew and I should've told you earlier I just didn't get a chance and...'

'Allie it's okay.' Meg reassured her. 'It's okay.'

Suddenly there was a loud voiceover and everyone could hear. It was the leader speaking and he sounded like he wanted to laugh. 'Any last words from our hero?'

'Yes I...'

Allie gasped and stood up on her tip toes, she knew that voice and it was who she was looking at through the bars. Too bad he couldn't see her.

'Dad; I'm sorry that I lost your cloak and I'm proud to call myself your son, I don't know where I'd be without you. Mum; I love you. Don't cry too much and thank you for putting up with all my shenanigans over the years. Albus; I'm sorry mate. I guess you proved that Slytherins aren't that bad. Look out for Lily for me. Lily; Thanks for always being able to put a smile on my face and remember me as your favourite brother. To all my cousins; I love you all. My family means the world to me and you are proof of that. Every single one of you makes me smile. And Allie; take care of yourself. You know how I feel and...' he gulped. 'You'll find yourself another guy and he'll be the luckiest in the world just please don't forget me. Please none of you forget me. Goodbye.'

That was it. The voiceover crackled away and Allie was on her tip toes watching as it happened. As the jet of green light hit him in the chest and he just hung there lifeless. Never going to look up again.

Tears were stinging Allie's eyes as she sank down again. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real. Not James. It just couldn't be... but it was. Her heart felt like it had stopped and time froze momentarily as the reality of it sank in. He was gone. He was never going to hold her in his arms again. The boy who'd welcomed her to the Gryffindor table for the first time. Who she'd played quidditch with all these years. Who she'd span round in circles with at the ball. And the boy who had saved her life. It was all over.

'I won't forget you...' Allie's voice was shaking. 'I just can't believe it...'

'I'm sorry...' Meg turned her head to her; she looked as if she was going to cry as well.

'So am I.' Allie couldn't stop a tear decending her bloodied cheek no matter how much she tried.

They were there for what must have been a good couple of hours and each time footsteps passed they thought it was the end. Allie and Meg were both crucioed for refusing to talk and even though the pain was excruciating Allie would have chosen it any day if she could just see his face again. Meg was asleep and Allie was almost nodding off when she heard footsteps. They were far too light to be a member of the CN's footsteps.

'Pssst. Pssst.'

Allie looked up and kicked Meg so she woke up to. 'Who's there?' No reply. 'Show yourself!'

It was Rai. She was badly burnt, bruised and bleeding but she walked towards them without showing any signs of pain at all. 'Shhh.' she put a finger over her lips.

'Rai?' Meg whispered. 'What are you doing here?'

'Rescuing you because my idiot brother is in love with you.' she said matter of factly as she withdrew her wand. 'Hold still... Reducto!'

And the shackles around their hands fell away into dust. Allie rubbed her wrists which were red raw and dragged Meg to her feet as well.

'He is?' Meg sounded over the moon.

'Yes. Now follow me out of here. This way.' And she lead them down the long way around the back of all the dungeons and eventually they came out near the Levet common room.

'Thank you Rai. You've saved us.' Meg smiled at her.

'Not so bad after all, am I?' she smirked slightly.

'Oh on the contrary. You are worse.' came a deep voice and they all turned around to see the leader standing there, tapping his foot as if he was waiting for something. 'Tut tut Miss Deforest you really have let yourself down. And your father too. Helping prisoners escape? No, no this won't do. You have to be punished.'

'No!' yelled Allie and Meg in unison.

Rai gulped. 'I...I...'

The leader snarled as he kicked her to the ground. She sat up, wiping the blood away with the cuff of her sleeve but he shot a curse at her. She crawled backwards managing to dodge it but not before she was hit by the cruciatus curse. She squirmed in agony as she made an attempt not to scream then she tried to move backwards again but it was no use.

The leader raised his wand above his head, doing his evil smile. 'Bad children need to be punished. Avada kedavra!'

Stillness. Rai lay there on the floor her eyes staring at the ceiling and not moving. She was another one dead at one man's hands. Allie and Meg stood there as he turned to them, still smiling.

'Which one of you young ladies would like to go first?'

The two girls looked at each other. 'Expelliarmus!' they yelled at the same time sending the leader flying backwards unconscious. Meg caught his wand and snapped it in half over her knee and then they both ran out of there as fast as possible.

'To the hall!' Meg said as they were running until they ran into two familiar faces.

'Adrien.'

'Louis.'

'Hi.' Louis looked worse than Allie with his messed up hair, sooty face, blood stained top and a gaping burn wound all down his arm.

'Louis this is Meg; my friend from France and Meg this is Louis; my friend from England.' Allie introduced them. 'Anyway... We'd best get back to the hall.'

'Meg...I...' Adrien began.

'No...' Meg cut him off, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

As they reached the hall there were less battles going on. Probably because they had been moved to other parts of Beauxbatons or most people were taken captive or were dead. As they ran through the door under the invisibility cloak Allie saw Leon duelling a member. His eyes were all red and he was bleeding. A lot.

'He's dead! Thanks to you!' he was screaming as he shot curses at the man whilst dodging some. 'You killed my twin!'

What? No. Not Timmy as well. Allie didn't do much thinking she just ran out from under the cloak and to where her brother was lying motionless on the floor. She knelt next to him; looking to see if his chest would rise and fall. He could just be sleeping. But he wasn't. Diego, James and now Timmy. This time she made no effort to stop the tears falling. Her big brother was gone. She was losing everyone she cared about. Why couldn't it be her instead? She squeezed his hand as she put her head on his chest; trying to make sense of it all. Her big brother was never going to apparate her places again. He wasn't going to be there when she woke up in the night after a bad dream. He wasn't going to be able to stick up for her when her mum disapproved of magic but most of all he wasn't going to be there with Leon. She raised her head just in time to see Leon dish out the revenge that bastard deserved. The member was hit by a green light from Leon's wand and then he sank down next to his twin.

'Timmy...' he whispered. It was the first time Allie had seen her big brother cry. 'Timmy I'm sorry. It should have been me. I should have been hit by the curse. I love you Tim, you're my twin and I need you. Half of me is dying... Tim...'

'Leon. I...' Allie didn't say any more. She just hugged the twin she had left as they soaked each other's shoulders with their tears.

'Aww. Well isn't that cute?' said a sarcastic voice that Allie had heard too many times in the past few hours.

'You!' she stood up angrily, drawing her wand out.

'Now where is my wand?'

'You'll have to find both pieces.' she told him.

'Well played Cotton but I'm afraid it's all over for you, your brother and your friend.'

'Let my sister go. Take me instead.' Leon stepped in front of her.

'No Leon. I can't let you.' she stepped away from him.

'Looking for something?' Meg was standing there holding the halves of his wand in her hand.

'Oh you are going to pay...' The leader was now raging.

'So are you.' Louis stepped out with his wand raised and ready

'And if you want to get to Meg you'll have to get through me first.' Adrien stepped out in front of Meg.

'Deforest?' laughed the leader. 'Don't tell me you've turned like your mother. I had to kill your sister for doing that...'

'No! What have you done to Rai?' Adrien suddenly became very worried.

'I already told you; I killed her. She's dead. Just like that.' he snapped his fingers together.

'You're lying...'

'Oh no I am not. You see, that girlfriend of yours was a witness and so was your other buddy. She helped them escape so she had to be punished.'

Adrien fell silent as he turned to look at Meg who slowly nodded, biting her lip. All the other CN members were engaged in a duel at this point. It was five verses one with no wand.

'You're going to burn in hell!' spat Louis. 'And I'll be dancing on your grave because you're evil and I don't know what thoughts are going through your fucking head but I'm sure they aren't sane ones. Because your mental and should be sent to fucking Azkaban where you can sit and wait for people to actually give a shit that you're rotting away in a prison cell and the dementors won't come near you because your soul is to god damn cold even for them!'

Allie had never seen Louis this angry. She began to wonder who he had lost in this war. She soon found out.

'I'm doing this for little Diego. For Timmy. For Rai, who I never evwn met. This is for all the people who have died because you have a stupid idea that Voldemort could come back. But I bet the things you do would make even him feel sick. I'm doing this for my cousin James. For my auntie Gabrielle and Audrey. For my dad; a braver man than you could ever be and my sister Victorie. I'm going to make surethat none of them died in vain. That no more innocent people lose a life. At least not because of you anyway.' Louis was shaking as he tried to steady his wand with both hands.

Everybody else raised their wands and pointed them at the leader who just laughed sarcastically. 'Go on. I dare you.'

Allie's heart was pounding and she could feel the blood rushing to her head. She felt so weak and sick she was running purely on adrenaline now. But that wasn't a bad thing. The five of them had the leader trapped in a circle, all wands pointing at him. They didn't even need to exchange glances. They just did it.

The leader crumpled to the floor as he was hit by five different curses. Allie didn't know what the others cast but one of them must have been avada kedavra because he was dead. The mastermind behind all this trauma was dead. It was all over. Allie stood there, wand still outstretched, taking deep breaths as she tried to make sense of it all. As soon as the other CN members heard that their leader had fallen they were out of the school as quickly as possible. It was all over. The battle of Beauxbatons had come to an end.

It wasn't a very fancy funeral. But it was enough to say goodbye. It wasn't easy explaining to their mother what had happened and she was distraught. Diego and Timmy had their funeral on the same day followed by Bill and Victorie then James. All of them were cremated so that the ashes could be brought back to England.

She was running but the fire was getting closer and the shackles on her wrists were getting tighter. The walls were closing in and everyone was dead. She turned, knowing it was hopeless, and let the fire swallow her up... It was just a bad dream. She awoke sweating and out of breath her ears filled with the sound of the engines whirring. She was on a plane back to England. She was going home.

Allie turned her head to see Louis sitting in the seat next to her. 'Nightmare?' he asked.

'All I've been having for the last week.' Allie told him.

'Me too. I know how you feel.'

'Yeah.' she sighed.

'Allie, I know I can trust you and there's something I need to get off my chest.' Louis admitted. 'It was me. I shot it at him. I used the killing curse...'

'It was?'

Louis nodded sadly. 'I...'

'Lou, don't feel bad about it. You may have ended one life but he was a git anyway. You have saved hundreds of people. You're like a hero!'

'You think so?' Louis asked.

'I know so.' Allie hugged her best friend promising never to move away again. 'Your dad would have been proud of you.'

'So would've yours.' Louis told her.

'Yeah.' Allie went quiet again. 'I lost a lot of people I cared about that day...'

'So did I.' Louis looked down at her. 'But we've still got each other. I've always got my nutcase best friend.'

'And I've always got...' Allie paused trying to think of something to sum up Louis. '...you.' and she fell asleep again, still hugging him but she didn't have any nightmares. Before long they were back in England.

The air was warm and everything smelt like spring. The sun was in the sky as they all pushed their trolleys along the platform then ran straight at a brick wall onto platform 9 3/4. The Easter holidays were over and they needed to get back to school.

There were cheers and applause as they walked along. People had obviously heard what had happened. Gossip and news spread like feindfire nowadays.

'You ready?' Louis smiled.

'I was born ready.' Allie replied as they made their way to the front of the platform.

'All aboard!' called out the conductor as they climbed on to the Hogwarts express; the train that was taking them home.


End file.
